I can't fight this feeling any longer
by selenaxo
Summary: "Silent. Something I can't stay any longer. I love her, and I have to face this." A new junior girl joins New Directions, and Santana immediately falls for her. Follow Santana and this mysterious new girl as they become best friends, and Santana tries to deal with her emotions without telling her new friend. Plus, this new girl also has secrets of her own... Reviews make my day :)
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! So I've been throwing this idea around for a long time, and I finally decided to start writing it! I hope you all enjoy! **

**Some important info: In my story, a few things are a little different than on the show. First off, Santana was never in love with Brittany. So if you a Brittana fan, I suggest looking elsewhere for a fanfic XD Also, this takes place somewhere in the beginning of the third season-ish, so there will be none of the new cast. Santana has never even really considered the fact that she's gay, but she does find it odd that she has never been attracted to a boy. **

**Also, if you want to see more of one of your favorite characters/favorite couples then just say so in your review! Or PM me!**

**Thanks! Please review and enjoy!**

**Oh, and PS, if you also happen to read my Wizards of Waverly Place fanfic, I know that I use the same name for the new girl and the missing girl, but I like to use that name a lot because I really really like it :)**

**(Rest In Peace Cory. You will be desperately missed. You will always have a special place in our hearts. I cried when I found out, I was shocked and horrified. I pray for him, that he is in a safe place, and I pray for Leah and his friends and family. Stay strong, everyone.)**

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I remember the day I met the person I love more than anything more clearly than any other day in my entire life.

She walked through the door, and I swear my beating heart stopped for a moment. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

This is how I had to struggle through this incredible passion of mine. One I have never felt so strongly about in my entire life. A passion so strong, it aches my heart and floods through my veins. Every time she opens her mouth, I just want to say, 'I love you'.

But I can't tell her. I won't. I'm much to afraid of the consequences. What if she doesn't love me back? And what will other people think about me at our school, that is filled with some incredibly horrible people? Will they accept me, or reject me?

And this is how it all began.

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**Chapter 1**

It was cold and rainy outside William Mckinley High School in Lima, Ohio. Teenagers bustled through the hallways, talking and laughing with friends, standing at their lockers, gathering their books and binders. Cheerleaders, known as the Cheerios, wore their red and white uniforms, complete with white sneakers and bouncy ponytails. Everyone was especially energetic, though, because it was Thursday, November 24th, (aka almost December), which meant Christmas was inching its way nearer. And everyone knows Christmas meant free stuff and no school for two weeks. What could be better?

Santana Lopez walked through the doors and into the halls. Usually, she would be wearing her cheerleading outfit, but there was no practice today (due to the excessive raining) and Santana felt like she needed to wear something different. Her tan skin glowed against the yellow shirt and dark blue jeans she was wearing ever so well. Her black hair was in a pile of waves on top of her head, and her black boots clicked through the hallways. She quickly made a stop at her locker, grabbed a few things and made her way towards one of her favorite places- the glee room. Santana didn't usually like to admit it, but she thoroughly enjoyed glee, and like many people in glee club. The only reason she was so rude all of the time was because she was... well, lets just say confused.

Obviously, everyone just immediately assumes that Santana is totally confident about knowing who she is and confident in herself. But honestly, it was all just to cover up the fact that Santana Lopez actually doesn't know who she is at all. She pretends to be confident so she can _feel_ confident, but lately her strategy hasn't been working. The reason she isn't so confident in herself is because contrary to popular belief, she has never had feelings towards a guy. She tried so hard to like someone but as much as she tried she knew that she couldn't force attractions towards other people on herself.

_Is there something wrong with me?_ is an incredibly common question that pops into her head._ Why have I never had strong feelings, or feelings at all for anyone?_ Santana desperately wanted to feel something for someone, even if it was some jerk of a guy who she would punch herself for falling for.

Little did she know that today was her lucky day. Santana Lopez was going to feel something for someone, alright. And these feelings were about to hit her so hard that it was going to nearly crush her heart.

Santana sat down in her usual seat next to one of her best friends Brittany. She said hi to her blond friend, and rubbed the reddish-brown plastic chair she sat upon and smiled. This room was almost like a second home to her. Her passion was singing and she loved to do it more than a lot of things in her life.

She flicked her dark eyes from the chair below her to the door as more people walked in. Kurt, Finn, Quinn, Mercedes... all familiar faces. And she was so happy to be spending her senior year with them. She just had an... interesting way of showing affection.

Finally, Mr. Schue walked in the door, a big grin on his face, and his curly bronze hair was styled how it always was.

"I've got incredible news, guys!" he said, spreading his arms out for emphasis.

Rachel, being Rachel, raised her hand. Even though Mr. Schue didn't call on her, Rachel began to speak anyways.

"Yes, I have a feeling this is about the solo I tried out for yesterday?" she rambled quickly, without any hesitations or breaths. "Thank you so much for giving me the song for-"

"Whoa! Rachel! Slow down!" he said, a puzzled look on his face. "This isn't about you."

Santana blinked hard, then scoffed loudly. "I'm sorry, Mr. Schue, but should I be calling an ambulance?" she began. Insults began burning in her throat, as usual. "Because it seems as if Rachel is about to pass out and die any moment now because of the statement you just said to her. I really don't think her brain has the power to process the idea that the world doesn't revolve around her."

"That's enough, Santana," he said, giving her a sideways look. "Let's not start the day with this."

Rachel looked back at Santana, giving her a deathly glare. She flashed Rachel a sarcastic smile. Santana definitely didn't like to admit this either, but deep down she actually liked Rachel. She just needed someone to throw insults at because of her current lack of self-confidence and her state of confusion, and currently Rachel Barry was the most vulnerable. Santana even thought she was really, really pretty. But if Rachel ever found that out, Santana didn't even know what she'd do.

Mr Schue continued. "What I was _going_ to say was that..." he stopped for emphasis. "...we have a new member of the Glee Club!"

Gasps of shock, excitement, and hushed murmurs spread throughout the room. A new member was a really big deal.

"A new member?" she said, flicking a black strand of hair out of her face, not sure how to feel about this news. "We haven't had a new member for a while."

"I know! This is great! We need another member. We need some fresh new voices! I have found an amazing girl who knows how to sing her heart out, and she really would like to join. She just transferred here last month into the 11th grade. But, since she skipped a grade in elementary school, she is one year younger than she should be. She is only 15, so remember to please be nice! Think about how nerve-racking it would be if_ you_ were 15 and about to be in a club with intimidating 17-year-olds." Mr. Schue began to walk towards the door. "She's waiting in Emma's office. I'll go get her right now! Everyone, stay here." He turned around and left the room, a happy spring in his step.

The minute their teacher left, everyone turned around in their chairs and looked at Santana.

"Please don't be mean to the new girl," said Tina. "We really need new members!"

"Try your hardest not to lash out, okay?" said Finn, who was grasping Rachel's hand.

"This girl could be the key to winning our competitions!" Rachel exclaimed.

"And, she could be totally freakin' hot," said Puck, nodding his head and high-five-ing the nearest guy, which happened to be Artie.

As more people told her things like 'Just try to be nice' and 'No more insults,' Santana rolled her eyes and put her arms in front of her. "Okay, okay!" she exclaimed. "What is this, and intervention?" She felt angry and sad that her friends didn't trust her to be nice. She really would try her hardest to not insult the new girl.

Santana decided it was time to speak from the heart. She knew she would regret this later, but she didn't care. "Look. I promise I'll try harder to be nice, especially to this new girl. I'm just..." she paused. "I'm going through a lot right now. So could you all just, like, give me some space or something?"

The whole room was silent. Eyes were wide. Santana saw some people smiling at her.

"You guys are looking at me like I just died and came back to life," she said. "Is it really that uncommon that I speak what's on my mind instead of just insulting people?"

The whole room immediately said "Yes!" at the same time.

Before anyone could talk or question Santana about what she meant by 'I'm going through a lot right now', Mr. Schue walked in, only walking a few feet into the room from the door. All heads turned.

"Everyone..." he said, looking excited. "This is Zoe!"

A small girl walked into the room.

Santana felt her heart momentarily stop. Her blood turned to ice, and she felt a feeling she had never, ever felt before in her life.

The girl was very small. She was about Rachel's height, maybe even a little shorter. She had long, chestnut brown hair that went about halfway down her back. It was straight and fit her face perfectly. She had tan skin, just about the color of Santana's. Her eye's were big, and they were so green they looked like beautiful emerald orbs. Santana had never seen eyes so green. She had a pair of blue jeans on that were rolled up just above her ankles, showing the many ankle bracelets she had on. She had an incredibly oversized vintage letterman jacket that fit appropriately to their school colors; it was all red, with red leather sleeves and had a red and white symbol that Santana didn't recognize on its upper right-hand corner. There were other white badges on the sleeves, but _Santana_ couldn't make out what they said.

Santana felt like she was suffocating. This girl was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her entire life. A warm feeling was suddenly exploding in her heart and coursed through her body, getting rid of the icy feeling she had just experienced. She suddenly had the urge to run up and hug this girl. To hold her, and never let go. To kiss her softly on the lips.

Wait. What?

Santana rewinded in her brain. Did she actually just think that? Did she really want to kiss her? She didn't really know. She was suddenly so... confused.

_Omygod,_ she thought. _Am I..._

_...gay?_

Santana began to feel ill. The suffocating sensation started up again. So many things were crashing into her mind. So many realizations about herself, and she didn't even know if these realizations were truly real. She didn't understand anything about herself anymore. Was she gay? It was totally and completely possible. She couldn't even believe she was thinking that.

Santana couldn't take it any more. She felt like she was slowly dying.

"I feel like I'm going to throw up," she blurted out.

Heads whipped around, glaring. Everyone silently seemed to be saying, _What the hell is wrong with you?!_

Will sighed angrily. "Santana! What did I tell you about insults? I can't believe-"

"No, no, no, Mr. Schue, this isn't an insult. I seriously think I'm about to puke." Her insides felt like they were on fire. What was happening to her?

Will noticed that Santana looked incredibly pale. "Oh goodness, Santana, I apologize," he said. "You're totally right, you don't look so good."

Brittany scooted her chair closer. "Honey, you look so pale! You should go to the nurses office. You're sweating a ton!"

People began to crowd around her, but the only thing Santana seemed to be able to focus on was Zoe. The new girl looked concerned, and she could see Mr. Schue apologizing to her.

Santana felt even more sick, now that everyone was around her, asking her if she was okay.

"G-get away from me!" she yelled. "Leave me alone! Just leave me alone!" her shouts were loud and harsh.

She tried to push her way through the crowd. "Give her some space!" exclaimed Finn.

She briskly walked by Will and Zoe. It took all of her might to not look at her. But she knew that if she did, it would make this horrible feeling worse.

She ran through the deserted hallway and pushed her way through the bathroom doors. She felt hot, sticky tears rushing down her face. Her emotions felt like they were at war with themselves. She sat down on the floor and began to sob.

What was going on? What was wrong with her? She didn't know. All she could think about was what had just happened. The scene replayed in her head over and over again. She couldn't believe how dramatic she was being, but she couldn't help it. It's not like she wanted to be that dramatic.

_Zoe must think I'm such a drama queen. She doesn't even know me and my first impression on her is that I make a huge deal out of everything. Great._ Santana didn't understand what was going on, but she did understand that she cared about what this girl would think of her.

Even though she was probably only in that bathroom for a short period of time, it felt like hours and hours that she sat in there, sobbing, trying to straighten out her emotions and figure out if the explosions of warm, pleasant feelings she felt in the glee room was love for a girl she hadn't even really met yet.

All Santana Lopez could think about was that 15-year-old girl.


	2. Chapter 2

**Please review! I really enjoy writing this fanfic, and I don't want to have to stop because I cant get any fans :( and I want to have at least 1 fan for this! :) thanks to the people who favorited/followed!**

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Santana could hear a voice calling her name through the hallways. It had been a very long time since she had stormed out of the Glee club room.

"Santana!" the voice yelled. "Please, show yourself! The nurse said you weren't with her!"

She recognized it immediately. It was Rachel's.

The bathroom door opened. She watched as Rachel walked in. Rachel noticed Santana sitting on the floor, directly under the paper towel dispenser, and rushed over to her.

"Santana! We were so worried!" Rachel leaned over, looking at her. "They sent me out to find you and see if you were okay. What happened? One minute, you were fine, and the next thing we know your face was the color of milk!"

Santana looked away, scowling. "I really don't want to talk about it. I'm fine. Why do you care, anyway? You know I hate you. You should hate me, too."

Rachel sighed. She put her back against the wall and sat down next to Santana, looking directly at her.

"Look, Santana. I know we've had some... bad moments, let's just say. But I don't hate you! Far from it, actually. I really like you, and I just wish we could be friends. If we were friends, I could help you out with whatever is going on."

Santana was silent. Her expression didn't change.

Rachel continued. "You said that you're dealing with something right now, and I just want you to know that if you ever need someone to talk to it about, I am totally here for you. The whole glee club is!" She paused, waiting for any reaction. She didn't get one. "I just wanted to make sure that you knew we're all here for you."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Santana said. She liked that Rachel and the rest of Glee club wanted to help her, but she didn't want to admit it. And she definitely wasn't ready to tell anyone the new secret she was now hiding deep down inside of her.

As she allowed Rachel to help her up and dry the tears from under her eyes, the truth echoed inside of her mind.

_I like girls the way I should like boys._

Or, was it the truth? After all, she had only seen that girl for about 30 seconds. How was she so sure this was true? You can't fall in love with someone the moment you see them. That's ridiculous.

...Right?

Just the sight of this girl Zoe made her feel a feeling that she had never felt before. A feeling that she believed it just might be love. So, what if it was? What if true love was just... immediate? What if you just... _know_ from the second you see them that it's true love?

Santana scowled. _No, _ she thought. _I am _not_ in love with her. I can't be. I just can't. I don't even believe in true love. What is wrong with me?!_

It took all of Santana's strength to force her emotions she was feeling into a tiny space deep down inside of her. She was not going to let these emotions run free inside of her or drive her insane or ruin her life. She forced herself to repeat a sentence inside of her mind, even though she wasn't even sure it was true.

_I am not in love with her. I am not in love with her. I am not in love with her._


	3. Chapter 3

_**1 day later**_

Santana took a deep breath, trying to ignore the rain falling on her head that had continued from yesterday's storm, and walked through the doors into WMHS.

Yesterday, she had been excused to leave school early after she told the nurse that she was ill. When she had gotten home, her parents were out working (as usual, they were almost never at home) and she had fallen onto her bed and began to sob.

She didn't really understand why all of these emotions were suddenly exploding inside of her, so, just like she had done in the bathroom, after hours of crying on her bed, she took all of her emotions and sent them right down into a dark, lonely place deep inside of her. Even though the ugly truth about her own sexuality was now clear to her, she wanted to pretend like it never even happened.

This time, she made sure these emotions weren't coming back.

Santana walked through the hallway, trying to appear confident, but on the inside, she felt nervous. What if seeing this girl made all of these emotions come flooding back? She really didn't want that to happen again.

She walked into the room.

Immediately, her gleemates, as she liked to call them, all turned to her. They looked startled and concerned. Finn stood up.

"Are you okay?" he asked immediately. "You left so suddenly yesterday!"

"Calm yourself, I'm fine!" she said. "I just got a little sick yesterday, that's all." Santana's dark eyes drifted upwards.

There she was. Sitting in a chair in one of the back rows. She was wearing almost the same thing, with very similar jeans and the same letterman jacket, but a different shirt, and her long, brunette hair was wavier.

She could feel the emotions nagging to come out, to rush into her heart, but she held them back. But when she looked at Zoe she knew that they were there, that they were real emotions, and powerful ones, too. But she couldn't admit to herself that she had these feelings.

And to Santana's horror, she was the last one to arrive to class, besides Mr. Schue, which meant there was only one chair left to sit in. This chair just happened to be directly next to Zoe.

Santana gingerly walked up and sat down in the chair. She didn't dare look at Zoe, no matter how tempted she was. She averted her dark eyes every time she wanted to glance to her left side and look at her.

As Will was giving one of his lectures, Santana could feel Zoe looking at her. She felt her eyes studying her. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the girl ever so slightly smile.

Zoe leaned over towards her, and the next three words that came out of the girl's lips came as a complete shock to Santana.

"You're really pretty."

Santana almost fell out of her chair. A rush of excitement coursed through her body. She once again forced it down, afraid something would happen. She then made herself look at the girl.

She kept herself from gasping. She was even prettier up close. Her skin glowed, her wavy hair was messy, but on Zoe it didn't look bad. And her eyes. Her eyes were so green, Santana felt as if they were piercing through her own dark eyes. She was flawless, but at the same time, she most definitely wasn't. It was hard to explain, but Santana could also detect weakness and tiredness in her eyes. She noticed various scars on her face, and something about her looked... worn out. Even though this girl was young and beautiful, she could tell that she definitely wasn't perfect, and Santana liked that. She hated perfect people. Everyone has to have something that makes them... different.

Santana almost forgot to reply to the girl. She smiled. Santana's eyes were taunting and playful.

"As are you," she whispered back, crossing her arms, smirking. If Santana was really good at one thing, it was pretending to be confident when she isn't. She was using this skill in this conversation."I've got to admit I'm impressed. It takes a lot of courage to sign up for something that a bunch of seniors are a part of already."

"Thanks," she replied. Her smile grew. "Hey, what's your name? I never got the chance to meet you yesterday, after you, um..."

"Got sick and totally embarrassed myself in front of you?" Santana finished for her. Realizing that sounded like she cared a lot more than a normal person would about what Zoe thought about her, she quickly added, "And everyone else?" She felt the need to explain herself. "I'm not usually that dramatic. I... don't know what came over me yesterday."

Zoe looked down, still smiling. "It's okay, I get it." She looked back up. "As long as you didn't get sick because of me entering the room!" She laughed, obviously joking. Santana loved how she laughed. It was a very soft giggle, and she felt like she couldn't get enough of it.

"Santana," she said. "My name's Santana."

Just then, the ear-piercing sound of the bell hammered their eardrums. Zoe stood up and looked down at her. She smiled once again. Every time she smiled, Santana felt shivers rush down her back.

"Cool name. It's pretty. And it suites you well." She put down her things to re-organize them. "I think we could make really good friends."

And with that, she winked at Santana, picked up her things, and walked out of the room.

Santana kept herself from dancing around the room. Everything was going so well, and she could feel her heart beating hard. She cramped the feelings down back inside. _I just want to be friends with her. Nothing else. Nothing more than that. It will be fine. We'll just be friends, and I'll deal with all of this. I'll get rid of these feelings. I'm sure it's just a weird phase I'm going through._

Her plan to be _just _friends with her was all so perfect.

But, it was too perfect.

Too perfect to be true.


	4. Chapter 4

**Zoe's ****POV:**

_**About 1 week later...**_

"We should hang out some time."

Santana flicked her brown eyes towards Zoe and smiled, closing her locker. A week ago Zoe had sat down with her at lunch, and they had immediately become friends. She felt like they just... clicked. They had met up and hung out during school at every opportunity to spend time with each other, and she thought that Santana was such a wonderful person. Zoe hadn't made very many friends since she had come to this new school, none that she had become so close with as Santana. Before Santana, Ariana was her only friend. Zoe was never someone who had many friends in the first place. But now, she had someone to call her closest friend. She felt like she had known Santana forever. And the weird thing was, she had heard so many bad things about Santana Lopez, things like how she is an incredibly mean and awful person. Zoe couldn't understand that at all; yes, she could be sassy, but never in a mean way. Santana had been nothing but sweet to her.

Zoe gathered her things and said, "See you on Monday!" Santana waved goodbye, and they began walking the opposite direction. Zoe was in a good mood, so she began to skip happily. She was skipping right by the auditorium when she heard something that made her stop.

She stopped right by the doors. She opened the doors slightly and looked in.

Inside was a boy, around 16 and probably in her grade, and he had spiky, brown hair that shone in the lights. He was pretty tall, just about 6 feet, and he had arms that showed defined muscles through his tan skin. He wore baggy jeans and a sleeveless denim jacket that had a black cotton hood attached, and a black beanie sitting on his dark hair. He was standing on stage, gathering wires and things that looked like they belonged to electric guitars and other instruments that had been plugged in recently. Zoe figured that because it was Friday, he was probably packing everything up.

Zoe blushed. This guy was definitely one of the most attractive guys she had seen at this new school school so far. She was about to stop being creepy by watching this guy and leave when he looked over her way. He must have heard or seen her, because he began to talk in her direction.

"Someone there?" he said. "George? Is that you?"

Her smile quickly faded. Embarrassment quickly filled her stomach.

The guy realized it wasn't his supposed friend George, but in fact someone else. He smiled. "Hey, don't be shy," he said. "Who are you? Are you a boy or a girl? It's so dark out there, I can't se a thing." His voice was smooth and deep, and the more she looked at him and heard him talk, the older he looked. Maybe he wasn't 16... She wasn't sure.

Zoe, still feeling shy and embarrassed, walked through the doors and out onto the pathway next to the sea of red chairs. In glee club, they had come here a few times over the week she had been in it to perform.

The guy smiled just slightly and sweetly. "Now I can see you perfectly," he said.

"Sorry, I promise I wasn't watching you or anything weird like that," she said immediately. "I just-"

"Whoa, slow down! It's okay!" his dark eyes danced in the light. "Besides, even if you were watching me, I wouldn't have minded."

_Is he flirting with me?_ Zoe thought. Not many guys flirted with her very often, but she was pretty sure he was. She had recently changed her look- she guessed this was a sign that it was working for her.

"Come up here and tell me your name," he said, motioning for her to come onto the stage. The stage lights seemed to shine directly on him.

Zoe walked up and stopped next to him. "I'm Zoe. I'm an 11th grader here."

"Really?" he said. "I am too. I'm turning 17 soon." He stopped. "You look..."

"Really young and too small to be an 11th grader?" she finished his sentence. She then laughed softly. "I get that a lot. I skipped 2nd grade. I'm still only 15."

"Oh," he said. "That's actually really cool. That means you must be really smart." He flashed her a cute smile. She hoped he couldn't see her blush.

"What's your name?" She asked. "I haven't seen you before."

He looked at her up and down and smiled, putting his hands in his pockets. "I'm Cooper." He the looked around, then back at her. "Hey, can I show you something?"

"Sure," she said.

Cooper walked over to a black guitar case, and pulled out a sleek, red electric guitar. He plugged it into an amp that he hadn't put away yet.

"Whoa! Nice guitar!" she said. "Do you play it?" After she said that, she realized how stupid it sounded. She immediately regretted saying it.

But Cooper just laughed. "You're funny," he said. He then flipped the amp on and said, "I'm in the band. We usually play for the glee club."

"No way!" said Zoe. "I'm in the glee club!"

He laughed again. "Seriously? Awesome. You must be new, because I haven't seen you yet." He then looked at her with flirty eyes. "You know, me and my friends say that when a pretty girl can sing, it makes them even sexier."

Zoe looked down and her cream floral dress and giggled. _Yeah,_ she thought._ He's definitely flirting with me._

"Why don't I" -he gestures towards himself- "play a song on guitar, while you" -he gestures towards Zoe- "sing for me?"

Zoe looked up at him, thought about it, and then nodded. "Sure, why not?"

He began to play the guitar beautifully. Zoe loved the way he strummed the guitar. She immediately recognized the song- Light On by David Cook. It was one of her favorites, and she didn't even mind that it was a guy's song. He had obviously changed the key so it would be singable for a girl.

The song went on. Zoe and Cooper danced around the stage while she sang her heart out. Her whole body felt alive, filled with energy and ready to do anything, just like it always did when she sang. Singing was such a huge passion of hers.

The last note was played, and Zoe found herself only a foot away from his body by the end of the song. She looked at him with big, green eyes

Cooper let out a sigh of amazement. "Damn. You are so incredibly talented. That is one big voice for such a tiny girl."

Zoe smiled and let out a small laugh. "Thanks. You are _amazing_ at playing the guitar."

His face lit up with a smiled. Suddenly, Cooper leaned in. He lightly held Zoe's face in his hand and softly kissed her.

At first, Zoe was in shock. She stood there, not exactly sure what to do. She almost let it happen, but she just couldn't. It was happening too fast. She pulled away, looking down. "Uhm..."

He closed his eyes, as if he were silently punching himself. "I am so sorry," he said, reaching out towards her. "I shouldn't have done that. We just met, like, 5 minutes ago. I'm such an idiot."

"It's okay," she said. "I'm... just not ready." She pointed her thumb towards the door behind her. "I should get going..." She paused. "See you around?"

He nodded curtly and coughed awkwardly. "Yeah, yeah, totally. See you around."

Zoe walked down into the isle next to the red chairs and made her way towards the exit. What had just happened felt like a dream. Although she liked this guy, she didn't think she liked him in that way. She needed to get to know him if she ever even thought about it. But nevertheless she felt bubbles of energy and happiness inside of her.

Just as she got to the doors, she pushed them open, took a sharp right turn, and ran straight into someone.

"Omygosh!" she began. "I'm so sorry, I didn't..." Zoe stopped her apology.

The girl she had run into was Santana. She had obviously been crying really hard- her eyes were red, and her glowing, tan cheeks were glistening with wet tears. She looked down on Zoe with a mixture of sadness, anger, and another emotion she couldn't describe or understand. Zoe had a puzzled look on her face.

"...Santana?"

**Santana's POV**

"See you on monday!"

Santana watched as Zoe energetically skipped off in the other direction, her wavy ponytail bouncing up and down. Santana wished she didn't have to go the whole weekend without seeing her new friend. She would miss her.

Santana began to walk the other direction. She though about how besides Brittany, sometimes, she had never had such a close friend before. She smiled. She liked it.

After exiting her school and walking for a few minutes, Santana stopped. She realized she had forgotten her sweater in the auditorium. She immediately turned around and began walking briskly towards school again. She arrived and opened the door, feeling the cool air from the hallways chill her skin.

_Click, click, click, click._ The hallways were so silent and empty that her boots seemed to echo through the whole school. It wasn't until she got closer to the auditorium when she heard music coming from it.

_Weird,_ thought Santana. _Usually everyone clears out of here immediately once we're excused. _Santana walked up to the doors, opened them quietly, and silently walked in. When she saw who was on stage, she almost gasped.

Zoe was up on stage, with a guy playing a red electric guitar she recognized from band. Connor, was it? Chris? She couldn't remember. She watched as Zoe sang out perfectly-tuned notes and bounced around onstage, her floral dress flowing and spinning around her. Santana smiled. She loved her energy up on stage, and she had a truly amazing voice.

The song was coming to an end when she walked in. She quickly grabbed her sweater before she forgot. Santana was planning on applauding at the end and emerging from her hiding place in the dark, back row. But, by the end of the song, Santana held back her applause. Confused, she realized that Zoe was only a foot away from his face. Santana then knew where this was going, and she didn't like it at all.

"Damn," she heard Connor, or Chris, or whatever his name was, say. His voice echoed in the large, dark auditorium. "You are so incredibly talented. That is one big voice for such a tiny girl."

_Why is she here, with this... guy?_ She felt so confused.

"Thanks," said Zoe. "You are _amazing_ at playing the guitar."

What's-His-Face leaned in. Santana watched, even though she knew she shouldn't be.

The moment his lips touched hers, Santana felt her beating heart shatter into millions of pieces. It was crushed. All of the emotions she had tried so hard to keep bottled up inside of her burst out, flooding through her body and coursing through her veins. She closed her eyes and felt one salty tear race down her cheek. She speed walked, as quietly as she could, to the door, opened and closed it without anyone noticing, and stood there, speechless, with a shattered heart. She felt the tears flooding out by the dozens, and she softly bit her lip to keep herself from crying out.

Shortly, the door opened. Before she could properly turn around and face Zoe, she crashed right into Santana.

"Omygosh! I'm so sorry! I didn't..." Zoe finally looked up, and took in the sight of Santana, standing there with tears and a completely broken heart.

"...Santana?" she said, confusion showing on her face. "I thought you already left school!" Then, she acknowledged her tears. "Sweetie, are you okay?" Zoe attempted to walk up and wipe the tears on Santana's face, but she swatted her hand away.

"Don't even touch me!" she hissed. "I can't believe you. You meet someone for what, 5 minutes? And you kiss him? Are you freaking retarded?"

Zoe held out her hands defensively. "Whoa, hold on. You saw that? I didn't think-"

"No one does that!" Santana continued, as if Zoe had never said anything. "No one falls for someone the second that they see them! No one! No one!"

Santana realized she was no longer talking to Zoe. She was now talking to herself.

Or, more like convincing herself.

"Santana! Calm down!" She grabbed her wrists and looked her in the eyes. "First of all, he kissed _me_, and I pulled away and said this was moving too fast. Second of all, why does this matter to you so much? He's just some guy. And I told him I wasn't interested. This is no big deal!"

Santana couldn't even let Zoe touch her. It was too hard on her heart. She twisted her wrists out of her firm grip. "Just... Just leave me alone!"

She walked away briskly before Zoe could say anything. Many more tears rushed down her cheeks.

She had never cried so much in her life.


	5. Chapter 5

**OMG! Did anyone else hear? ****_Demi Lovato _****is going to be on Glee's season 5 as Rachel and Santana's new friend! I LOVE HER IM SO EXCITED! Does this mean she could possibly be a new love interest for Santana? I HOPE SO! **

**Lol sorry about that. Please enjoy chapter 5!**

**Oh and PS, sorry the beginning is kind of long and boring, but please keep going until Santana comes along!**

* * *

**Zoe's POV**

_The next night (Saturday night)_

Zoe twirled a piece of her hair around her small finger as she watched _Pretty Little Liars _in her living room. It was still raining from last week, and it was raining so hard Zoe thought her house was going to blow away.

As she watched her favorite TV show, Zoe couldn't stop thinking about the fight she and Santana had. Santana hadn't responded to any of her calls. When she was deep into thought, she heard her phone buzz. She paused the TV and checked her phone. It was a text from her friend, Ariana.

_Are u friends with Santana Lopez? _it said. _Dont trust tht evil bitch! Ive heard awful things about her!_

_Rly? _Zoe responded. _But shes like the nicest person evr. Shes so sweet and funny._

_Havent u ever seen her around other ppl besides urself? Shes awful Zoe. But for some reason shes only nice around you, and every1 thinks its rly weird._

Zoe had seen her around other people in glee club. She could say pretty offensive stuff. Just the other day, Santana had called Finn 'fetus face' and many other things that were harsh insults. But Zoe could tell that there was a reason behind it. She could tell that there were many complications hidden down inside of her new friend that Zoe didn't understand yet.

Zoe just responded, _I think shes just going thru a lot. She seems to be confused and scared and she turns it into anger._

_What the hell does Santana freakin Lopez have 2 b confused and angry about?! Shes like, so popular and gorgeous. She has an awesome life. Wat cud b bad about her life?_

Zoe began to feel annoyed. She frowned and responded.

_I dont know, but i can tell that theres something bothering her. But Ill figure it out._

Ariana responded quickly. Zoe,___ i want you 2 stop being friends with her. She is evil and so much more popular than u r, and shes a horrible person. And besides, why do u think shed wanna b friends with an unknown junior like you?_

When Zoe read this, she scoffed outloud. She began typing furiously.

_Wat is wrong with u? Im not going 2 stop being friends with her, Ari!_

Her phone buzzed with the response._ Fine. Then were not friends anymore. Have fun hanging out with a popular bitch. I bet she doesnt even like you. Shes probably using u for ur good singing voice or something. Y else would someone so gorgeous and popular even consider being friends with you? _

Zoe was crying now. _Gr8! Im glad your not my friend anymore! I hate you!_

The next text that Ariana sent her hit her hard.

_Ha. Look at that. Now ur completely friendless. Im no longer ur friend, and Santana Lopez definitely isnt either, and she never was. Have fun being a complete loser, glee club freak._

After this text, she just stared at it for many heartbeats. Shock overwhelmed her. The fight she had just had with her friend was unreal. Then, she yelled in anger and threw her phone across the room. She needed something to calm her down, make her feel better. She un-paused the TV and continued to watch one of her all-time favorite shows.

Usually, watching TV cheered her up, but she was too upset. She felt the sudden need to change something about herself, about her appearance. Something that would be fun and cool. An idea came into her hear. She looked up at the clock, which read 7:45, and went ran down the hallway and into her bathroom. She opened the cabinet under her sink and rummaged around, looking for what she needed. When she finally spotted it, she smiled. She grabbed the box of blue hair dye and put it on her counter, closing the cabinet doors.

Zoe slightly bleached her hair so the baby blue color would show up and last longer on her hair. After bleaching, her hair was a light brown color. All Zoe wanted to do was dye her hair blue over her now light brown hair, so it would look a lot more subtle, yet you could definitely tell she had dyed it. She had seen people with this hair color, and it reminded her of blue icing on cupcakes. She loved it, and she was saving this box for the right time.

Zoe put on gloves, wrapped an old towel around her shoulders, took out the bottle of blue dye, screwed on the applicator and squeezed out a huge, blue blob into her hands. She first hesitated, making sure she wanted to do this. After deciding yes, she began to put the color in her hair.

While waiting, Zoe watched the last 30 minutes of the episode she was watching and then got in the shower and washed out the excess dye. She got out, put on comfortable clothes and blow-dried her hair.

She stood there, looking at her hair. It was exactly how she had imagined it would look like, and she was so happy and relieved. She thought the dark blue color was adorable. She put it up into a high ponytail, happy with herself, and walked back into the small living room.

The time was now 9:00. Thunder rumbled outside and it began raining harder, if that was even possible. She had nothing else to do, so she watched more Pretty Little Liars and waited for her dad to come home. As usual, he probably wouldn't be home until even later. He enjoyed spending every day at the casino and getting drunk out of his mind. Zoe hated it. But at least her dad was an incredible gambler and actually made money off it, because if he didn't then they would probably be on the streets by then. Zoe had no idea how he did it. She had no intention of asking.

Around 9:15 she heard footsteps. She paused the TV.

"Dad! Where have you been?" _Probably the bar,_ she thought.

But she got no answer. All she got was a soft knock at the door.

Zoe frowned. _That's weird, _she thought. _Maybe Dad forgot his keys or something. _

She walked up to the door, turned the lock, and opened the door. Zoe almost gasped.

Standing there was Santana. She was soaked from the rain, and she had her arms crossed. She looked like she was trying to stop herself from shivering, but she couldn't help herself.

"Shit! Santana!" was what first came out of Zoe's mouth. "What the hell? You poor thing, come in!"

Santana said absolutely nothing. She didn't even make eye contact with her, which was weird because she had noticed that Santana liked to look at her, especially right in the eyes.

Before Zoe asked any questions, Santana said her first words.

"I need dry clothes." She said it so softly she could barely hear it.

Zoe would have ignored that request and gone immediately to the question about why she was even here, but she noticed how miserable Santana looked and ran into her room, grabbing fresh clean clothes that she thought would fit Santana. She grabbed a towel from the bathroom and handed it all to her.

She entered the bathroom. She came out moments later with her dark hair towel-dried, and Zoe's baggy pajama pants and tshirt on. Zoe noticed how pretty she looked.

"Please tell me what's going on!" she said, sitting down on the couch in front of the TV.

Santana was silent. All she did was walk over to Zoe and sat right next to her. Zoe wondered why she sat so close to her. No one had ever sat next to her like this before. It was as if she could feel Santana's energy entangling with hers. She knew it sounded crazy, but it was what it felt like.

Zoe expected an answer, but all Santana did was sit there and look in the TV's direction. Zoe was turned towards her, and she looked right at her. After a few minutes of complete and utter silence, she noticed a small tear roll down Santana's cheek.

Zoe put out her hand, wanting to wipe it away, but she hesitated. She remembered yesterday when she had tried to wipe off Santana's tears and how she had violently swatted Zoe's hand away.

But she wasn't reacting to Zoe's hand moving towards her face. She was letting it happen. So she placed her hand gently on Santana's cheek and wiped away the tear with her thumb. She took her hand off of her cheek, and Santana suddenly grabbed it and held her hand softly inside of Zoe's. Santana then turned her head towards Zoe and looked her in the eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Sorry about what?" Zoe replied.

"For yelling at you and getting angry yesterday. It's your life. You can kiss whoever you want to. I came here to tell you that. I really, really, _really_ needed to see you and tell you I want to be friends again."

Zoe looked down. "Cooper kissed me, Santana. It was totally unexpected. I never wanted it to happen." She looked back up at Santana. Glossy tears welled in her big, brown eyes once again.

There was a long silence as Zoe stared at Santana. Then Santana spoke up and shattered the silence.

"I have a secret."

Zoe frowned. "What?"

But Santana said nothing. She just bit her lip, looked down and continued to hold her hand and sit incredibly close to her. Her eyes then drifted upward, past her eyes and forehead and up to her hair.

"I like it. A lot. It looks incredible on you."

Zoe giggled. "Thanks. I just dyed it."

Santana smiled ever so slightly. "It looks like the color of cake icing."

Zoe's eyes widened. "Thats what I thought too!"

She laughed. Zoe felt Santana squeeze her hand harder. Zoe could see there was an emotion in Santana's eyes that Zoe didn't understand. She wished she could reach inside her mind and see what was going on.

"Tell me about your secret."

* * *

**Santana's POV**

"I can't."

Zoe looked at her, confused. "What?" she asked.

Santana just couldn't tell her that she wanted to be with her desperately. She just couldn't. She couldn't even believe she was holding her hand and sitting so close to her. She felt her heart pounding and butterflies in her stomach. She was so into this now blue-haired girl that she didn't even know what to do with herself. All she could ever think about was her, and she knew that Zoe probably wasn't capable of loving her back. She liked boys. She had made that clear with Cooper.

It absolutely broke her heart. And thats why she couldn't stay mad at her. She had looked up her address in the directory and walked the short distance from her house to Zoe's because she couldn't lose this incredible, sexy, smart girl, even if they could only ever be friends. As long as she had her in some shape or form, she wouldn't feel so horribly sad and depressed. Zoe was the light in her life.

"Santana," she said in a calm steady voice. When Zoe used this voice, this confident, beautiful voice, it drove Santana insane. All she wanted to do is kiss her and hold her in her arms. This girl had made her realize something so incredibly life-changing about herself, and she meant so much to her.

"Is there something going on that I don't know? Is there anything that you want to tell me or talk about?"

Santana's eyes widened. _Omygod, is she on to me? _Thought Santana. _Did she figure it out?_

Santana let go of Zoe's hand quickly. "I need somewhere to stay tonight," she said, completely avoiding and ignoring what Zoe had said on purpose.

"Well, why didn't you just say so? You can stay here whenever you want to." Zoe leaned over and rested her blue head of hair on Santana's shoulder. The moment she did this, Santana could feel her own heart jump and beat faster. "And, I dunno bout you," she said with slurred words, "But I'm getting super tired all of a sudden..." She yawned slowly.

A few moments later, just as Santana was about to say something, she noticed that she felt Zoe begin to breathe evenly and slowly. She looked over at her, and to her disbelief, the love of her life had fallen fast asleep, right on Santana's shoulder.

This confirmed it. She was truly in love with her.

Santana felt the need to held her breath so the rise and fall of her shoulders wouldn't wake the blue-haired angel. Slowly, she brought her arm under the small girl's legs, and put her other around her back. She slowly picked her up, and began to carry her. She had never been so close to Zoe before in her life. She could feel Zoe's heart beat.

It felt incredible.

She opened a few doors, looking for her room. She eventually found it. Her room was painted light purple, but it was so dark she couldn't see many other details about it.

She was hesitant to put the girl down on her lavender bed covers. She really didn't want to wake her up. She jumped a little when lightning struck and thunder rumbled outside. She then steadily placed her on the far side of the bed, and pulled up the covers around her.

Santana thought about just finding a blanket and sleeping on the ground. But she couldn't find anything. She eyed Zoe's bed, contemplating if it would be weird if she slept in the same bed with her. What if Zoe wasn't okay with that? What if she freaked out?

Santana realized she was being ridiculous. Zoe was so sweet and nice, and she had fallen asleep on her shoulder. There was no way she would do anything like that.

Santana lifted the covers and laid down in her bed. At first she just laid there, her back to her blue-haired friend.

She couldn't take it anymore.

Santana turned around and lightly wrapped her arms around Zoe's waist. Her face was right next to Zoe's neck, and it took everything inside of her not to kiss her sun-kissed, olive skin. Instead she pressed her forehead gently against the back of her head, feeling her soft, blue hair against her cheek.

Santana began to whisper so softly, it was barely audible.

"I'm sorry. I need to tell you the truth. Even if you can hear me right now, or if you are still asleep and will never remember this, ever. And I hate myself for this. And when you hear it, you'll probably hate me, too."

She slowly closed her eyes, and felt a tear rush down her cheek. The next three words came out in a gentle, soft whisper, as if the words themselves were wrapping themselves around the girl and caressing her.

_"I love you."_


	6. Chapter 6

**I apologize for the intense language later on. I hope this doesn't bother anyone. This story is rated T, though, so you should expect some of it. I guess this is more of a strong T rating. Idk though.**

**I really liked writing this chapter because how meaningful it is, and how Santana is dealing with her fear of coming out to everyone and Zoe, and how they will react. Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Santana felt herself drift off into a deep sleep.

* * *

_It was dark. Santana couldn't tell where she was. All she could feel was the ground underneath her feet._

_Suddenly, the sound of a spotlight clicked on and rang in her ears. She felt the light blinding her. Looking out in front of her, she realized that she was in the auditorium, and the spotlight was shining directly on her. Although there was no one sitting in the audience, she could feel a presence. _

_She looked around. This stage was her whole life. She had so many memories and had practically grown up and matured and figured out who she was on this stage, and in the glee room. Santana wondered why she was standing there, in her skin-tight black dress, dark hair up in a ponytail and high-heeled boots. _

_For the first time on stage, she was confused. Usually, the stage, especially this stage, was like a second home to her. But right now she was completely lost. She had no idea what she was doing up there. She felt like she had no purpose. 'I guess I should start singing or something...' she thought. _

_But when she began, nothing came out._

_She tried again. Nothing. And again. Only silence was escaping her lips._

_And suddenly, she noticed that there were hundreds of people in the crowd that she knew she needed to sing for. She knew her purpose on that stage now._

_But it was completely impossible to fulfill._

_She began to feel like she was suffocating under the pressure. She could now see familiar faces in the audience- Finn, looking angry and shaking his head in shame. Tina was standing, obviously yelling at her, but she couldn't hear anything that she was saying. Brittany was crying, holding a stuffed unicorn, while Quinn was trying to comfort her and was giving Santana the evil eye. Rachel had her head in her hands. Kurt and Blaine were whispering about her- she could tell. The only thing that was audible to her was the faint voices of Mckinley High students, saying 'I can't believe you.' 'We will never accept you again.' 'Get away from me, freak.' It was all repeating in her mind. _

_She was letting her whole team down. And her whole school hated her. After this, they would never, _ever_ support her. They weren't accepting who she was. They were getting angry about it, and hating her for it. She tried to call out, telling them she was sorry, but once again, no sound came out. _

_The nightmare began to materialize around her. Everything was blurry, and then suddenly it was gone. Everything, even the spotlight. All she could feel was tears rushing down her face. And then, the spotlight appeared, once again with the familiar clicking sound. But this time, it wasn't on Santana._

_It was on Zoe, the girl who happened to be standing right next to her._

_Santana stared at her adorable, cream-colored dress in awe. Her hair was up in a bow, and she was staring out where the audience had just appeared. _

_Santana looked out on the audience, too. The whole scene was the same- all of New Directions looked so angry. But even though Santana had thought they were angry at her because she wasn't singing, she could tell that this time around, they were angry about something completely different. _

_But suddenly, Santana didn't give a damn about what anyone thought. Because the person she loved more than anything was standing just to the left of her, smiling out to the audience happily, as if they weren't angry._

_Zoe turned to her. Her blue hair was reflecting light off of it, and although Santana thought no one could ever pull it off, she thought it looked so incredibly sexy on her. Santana smiled and grabbed her hands, interlocking her fingers with hers, looking straight into her wonderful, green eyes. And suddenly, all of the whispering of her schoolmates cleared out of her head, and she felt herself regain her voice. Everything was so blurry and confusing and grainy around her, but everything about Zoe was crystal clear. In fact, she was all in high definition. She could see every detail about her more clearly than anything._

_And the clearest thing of all was the feelings she felt towards her._

_"Everything feels right when I'm with you," Santana said in a crystal clear voice. She was still holding her soft, delicate hands, and she pulled Zoe incredibly close to her. "And I'm terrified about what other people are going to think, _especially _you, because I don't know if you are even capable of liking me back, or girls at all. But..." Santana brushed a piece of blue hair out of her face, as she now felt Zoe's soft cheeks under her hands. Her emerald eyes were sparkling in the light. "There's one thing I do know. And that is that... I love you. I know we've only known each other for about a week. But if I could just be with you, I promise I would try _so_ hard to not care what other people think, because all of it would be worth it just to spend my life with you..." Santana began to pull her face closer. They were inches away now. She felt Zoe's breath on her. They became so close that their foreheads touched. Santana's heart was beating as fast as it ever could. Just a little farther, and...__  
_

* * *

Santana woke up with a jolt, her eyes flying open. She groaned softly, looking up, confused where she was. Very little light streamed into Zoe's room, and the sound of raindrops hitting the window filled her ears. When her eyes adjusted, and her mind began to wake up, memories of her dream-well, more like nightmare-flooded back into her mind. She looked in front of her, and her eyes widened.

She was still holding Zoe around the waist.

Luckily, Zoe was still asleep, and Santana had woken up before her so she wouldn't see that she was holding her. And luckily, Zoe was an incredibly sound sleeper, because she didn't notice at all, not even when Santana began to cautiously pull her arms away from her waist. She was successful in not waking her up. After this, she looked around the room, trying to see if she had a clock. A red digital clock read 9:30. Santana hadn't slept that long in a very long time. She looked down at Zoe, and studied every wonderful detail about her.

Santana could barely handle it. She was like an olive-skinned, blue-haired angel. And she was _Santana's_ olive-skinned, blue-haired angel, even if maybe she didn't love her back. No one was ever going to take her away from Santana Lopez, the meanest, toughest bitch around, especially not some stupid boy who thinks he can just flash his unnaturally white teeth at Zoe and take her away in his red Ferrarri. She promised herself that she would never let that Cooper guy even touch her. Never. Because right now, Zoe was the light of her life. She was something that made her so happy. And she would never let anyone ruin that.

Even though she felt like she could just stare at her for hours, she lifted the lavender comforter off of her, stood up, and left her room. She walked down the hall in the comfortable pajama shorts and t-shirt that Zoe had given her last night. As she was walking by, she spotted a picture hanging on the wall that caught her eye. She took a few steps back and looked.

In the picture, there was three people. One was a very young and small girl, with wavy brown hair and huge, green eyes. Santana recognized this to be 3-year-old Zoe. She was wearing a white dress with a silky pink bow around it, and she was laughing with an adorable smile. Her hair had bows in them that made her look even cuter. Santana felt herself smile.

Then, there was a man to the left of Zoe. He was about average height, handsome, with light brown hair and tan skin, and looked quite young, maybe early twenties to mid-twenties. He was smiling, and looking down lovingly at the little girl. Santana recognized this to probably be her dad- although they didn't look much alike, Santana could see a very faint resemblance, and he also had big, incredible green eyes, just like Zoe's. Now she knew where she got those amazing eyes.

And to the right of the little girl was a woman who was also laughing. She looked small, about the same age as the man, and she had olive skin, chestnut brown hair, and incredible eyes- they were a beautiful golden color, the color of honey. She had never seen eyes such a color before. The image of the woman made Santana shudder- this woman was absolutely gorgeous, and looked so much like Zoe, it was freaky. Zoe had gotten many traits from her mother- especially her skin color and hair color. But her eyes definitely came from her father.

A warm feeling spread inside of her. They all looked so happy. But one thing bothered Santana- she looked around, and there were no other pictures in the hallway. In fact, as she walked into the kitchen and the living room, she realized there were no other family pictures of them anywhere. That was the only one.

Santana frowned. Why would they only have one family picture up? Even Santana's family had family pictures up. She was about to look around when she heard a door closing somewhere. And she knew it couldn't have been Zoe, because the sound didn't come from behind her, but from in front of her. It had to be either her mom or dad. Santana hid in the hallway, hoping Zoe's parent wouldn't notice. Santana did her best to peer around the corner without being noticed.

What she saw was incredibly startling. Santana could tell it was Zoe's dad because he was the man from the picture. But this man looked different. Obviously, he was many years older now, but her dad was in horribly dirty clothes with stains of alcohol and the stench of cigarettes that she could smell from all the way from where she was standing. His eyes were bloodshot, he looked unshaven, and he stumbled around. He made himself coffee, but messily and spilled lots of things. Then, to Santana's horror, he pulled out a small silver flask and took a sip.

_Omygod, he's drinking at 9:30 in the morning?! _Santana thought.

"Zoe! Wake the hell up!" he screamed from the kitchen, his words slightly slurring. This made Santana jump. "It's late!"

He groped around for his keys. "I'm goin' out!" When there was no response, his face became angry. "Answer me!" No response again.

And then, the horror show began.

"YOU LITTLE FUCKING BITCH! ANSWER ME!"

Santana felt a tear rush down her cheek. This man was obviously a horrible alcoholic. She wanted to go up to the man and slap him. She very silently ran back to Zoe's room and opened the door.

Inside, a panicking blue-haired girl was just about to leave the room.

'Santana!' she mouthed. "Omygod. I. Am so. Sorry." she whispered, barely audible. "He _cannot_ know you're here."

Trying to respond to her father, she stammered, "I-I'm awake, I heard you! So sorry, Da- I mean, Jack! Have a fun day at the casino!" When she finished, she muttered, "Again..."

"Don't you DARE leave this house while I'm gone, besides going to that wretched school! You hear?! AND NO BOYS OVER! EVER!"

"Yeah, Dad!"

"Dammit, Zoe, I've told you a million times to call me by my name! My name is _Jack!__"_

Zoe closed her eyes. "Okay. How long are you gone for?" she asked.

There was a pause.

"None of your damn business!" He said at first. But he answered anyway. "Ugh. Probably 5 days."

Zoe's eyes widened. "Wait. WHAT? 5 days?!" But the two girls heard the front door slam.

He was gone.

Santana was utterly shocked. Zoe just sat down awkwardly on her purple bed.

And she began to sob.

Santana rushed over to her friend. She sat down next to her, and Zoe buried her head into Santana's chest, crying. Santana just wrapped her arms around her. Santana felt tears of her own stream down her face as she closed her eyes. "It's okay. It's okay," she repeated softly. The feeling of Zoe in her arms was so incredible, but right now she didn't have time to think about that.

"I-I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my dad," she said between sobs. Wiping away the tears, she broke away from the hug and looked straight into Santana's eyes. "I'll explain it to you. Right now."

Santana brushed the palm of her hand against her cheek and jaw, feeling her soft skin under her hand. She kept her hand there and brushed away stray tears off of her cheeks with her thumb. "Only if you feel comfortable telling me."

She took an uneven, deep breath, and began.

"When I was little, we were all okay. We were so happy, in fact. And one day, around Christmas, when I was three years old, my mom said she was going out to buy us some coffee, because it was a tradition for my parents to drink coffee on Christmas, and they'd always let me have a sip." Zoe's eyes darkened. "But, when she left, it was taking a long time for her to come back. And there was a knock at our door, and when my dad answered, it was a police officer. And... she was... i-in an accident..." the tears were flowing harder before now.

Santana was in shock. That beautiful woman in the picture she had seen had... died? She shed a few tears herself. That explained the lack of family pictures.

"Zoe, that's horrible..." she said. "I am so sorry..."

But Zoe wasn't done. She looked down. "It took a few weeks for the news to sink in. And when it did... things went horribly wrong. So wrong. It wasn't as hard for me, because I was only 3 and wasn't totally understanding of the concept of death, but my dad began to go crazy. He loved my mother more than anyone has loved anything." She closed her eyes. "I started seeing him drink several beers with dinner. Then, the beer turned into glasses of wine. Before I knew it, he was going through 2 bottles of wine a night. When he started hitting the really hard stuff, and I noticed that the Johnnie Walker bottle that he had never touched was gone very quickly, I began to get worried. I was still only around 4, but I was old enough to understand that this was getting bad. And he hadn't talked to me in _so _long. He was disappearing every day too, to the casinos. One day, I asked him to please stop drinking, and disappearing during the day." Zoe could barely go on with the story. She was getting to the hard part to tell.

"He looked at me in the most terrifying way. I could tell he had just realized something. And then he whispered, 'It was all your fault.' I didn't understand. 'She only got that coffee for you. We liked the coffee, but the coffee was for the tradition. The tradition for _you.' _He was so drunk, Santana. He stood up, and... he... he s-slapped me... right across the face. A _four-year-old_. He was screaming, how it was all my fault. Although I am very happy to say that was the first and last time he ever hurt me, he still blames my to this day for my mother's death. And his alcohol problem has gotten even worse. Now, he doesn't care what I do. Never. He hates my guts, Santana. I bet he wouldn't even care if I died. Even though he asks me not to leave the house, he knows I don't have to listen to him, because he has no power over me if he's not here. Especially if he's gone for _5 days at one time_. The only rule that I know he will kill me for if I break it is the no boys rule. When I was 11, he made this one single rule for me to follow. He'd say, 'I don't want no boy's hearts breakin' when you get together for a long time, get married, have children, and having his heart wrenched out of his chest when you die. I never want any boy ever to experience it. You may never date any boy. Ever.'"

Santana's jaw was slightly ajar. She couldn't even believe what she had just heard. She felt guilty thinking that she had big problems about her sexuality before. But she realized this girl had much bigger problems...

Santana wrapped her arms around her friend. "I... don't even know what to say."

"It's okay. You don't have to say anything." Zoe had her face nuzzled into Santana's neck, and she was practically sitting in her lap now. Santana rested her head on top of her sexy, blue hair. She ran her hand up and down her back, trying to comfort her.

"Santana?"

"Mm-Hm?"

"I love you."

Santana's hand froze. Her eyes opened. She felt her heart stop momentarily.

"You know, you are just such an incredible friend to me," said the girl in Santana's arms. "And I know we've been friends for only about a week, but I feel like we've known each other for so long. We have..." she paused. "...a really powerful and incredible connection. I can feel it."

Santana looked down. Feeling disappointed that she didn't mean the 3 words the way Santana had last night, but happy that she could feel a connection, she smiled, a tear running down her cheek. She squeezed her harder.

"I-I love you too, Zoe."


	7. Chapter 7

**So sorry it took me forever to update, and sorry it's a pretty short chapter! Nevertheless I hope you enjoy it ;)**

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**Chapter 7**

Santana couldn't take it any longer.

"Rachel. I need to talk to you."

It was the monday after Santana had shown up at Zoe's door. She had done a lot of thinking, and realized how much this secret was driving her insane. She needed to tell someone, and she trusted Rachel.

Rachel scrunched her eyebrows, confused. "What? Now?"

Santana nodded. "It's... urgent. _Really _urgent."

Rachel looked uncertain. "Okay..."

They walked out of the choir room with her. Because class was about to start, the hallways were empty. They kept walking all the way to the auditorium. The auditorium was the only place she could see herself revealing something like this to anyone.

"Santana, we're going to miss class!" Rachel exclaimed. "This better be important."

"Come sit on the stage with me." Santana walked over and gestured for her to follow. Reluctantly, she followed. The two walked up the stairs and sat down; there were several plastic chairs set up on the stage for glee club later today.

"What is this about?" asked Rachel. "You never want to talk to me, and you haven't insulted me yet and it's already been a few minutes..."

Santana looked down. "I'm being serious right now, Rachel. I promise." She paused. "It's about that thing I mentioned the day that Mr. Schue introduced us to Zoe and how I had said that I was going through a lot."

She saw Rachel smile out of the corner of her eyes. "Wait. Are you about to tell me something personal about yourself?" Rachel looked pleased. "I'm so glad you know you can trust me, Santana."

"Shut it, dwarf," she snapped. "Let me talk. This is really hard for me."

Rachel nodded silently.

Santana sighed. "Look. I know I come off as someone who is incredibly confident about themselves. And I should be. I mean, look at this." She gestured towards herself. "I'm a hot, 17-year-old cheerleader. I should be totally confident. And in the looks category, I _am _confident."

Rachel laughed, but just as she was about to say something, Santana continued to talk.

"But the truth is... Something really confusing for me is going on. And it started ever since the day that I realized that I've never actually _liked_ anyone. You know, like, in that way. And it was really frustrating, because I felt like I was... lost."

Rachel interrupted. "So you're saying you've _never_ had strong feelings for anyone? Ever?"

Santana paused. "Well..." she swallowed. "Yes. Not for a long time. Until... recently."

Rachel's eyes widened. She smiled. "Really? Well, then why am I here? Because that's great! Now you can feel confident again! Why haven't you asked him out yet? Who is he?"

Santana sighed. This was the hard part. "You... don't understand. The reason why I needed to tell you this is about who exactly this person is."

Rachel frowned. "Is he a bad person?"

Santana closed her eyes, beginning to get frustrated. "Omygod, this is so hard." She opened her eyes and looked straight into Rachel's eyes. "Look. What I'm about to tell you is completely confidential. Do not tell anyone or I promise I will kick your ass, Berry."

"O-Okay," she stuttered. "I promise."

Santana let the silence ring in her ears for a moment. She could feel her heart racing.

"Rachel, the person I really like... i-is a... girl."

Rachel's expression changed only slightly. "Are... You sure you like her in that way? Because you could just be confused."

She shook her head. "At first I wasn't sure. But now... I know."

Rachel had an overwhelmed look on her face. "I don't think you realize how much it means to me that you mustered up the bravery to tell me that," she said. "I'm very happy that you have finally figured out who you are! And I am here for you if you ever need anyone. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Santana felt a tear rush down her cheek. It felt so good to tell her and have someone who knew and accepted her.

"You're... not freaked out?" Santana said softly.

"Oh, sweetie, why would I ever be freaked out?" She stood up and gestured Santana to do the same, and then hugged her.

"Thank you, Rachel. I really needed this, even though I couldn't admit it... I really appreciate you not making a big deal out of it. This secret was destroying me from the inside."

Rachel pulled back from the hug. "Of course," she responded. "It's just... I was never expecting this, especially from you." Rachel's smile faded. "You're just the last person I expected to be..." her voice trailed off. "Well, you know."

"...Into girls?" Santana finished Rachel's sentence for her. "Yeah. I wasn't expecting it either."

Rachel changed her expression to a more serious one. "Can you... Tell me who it is?" she asked. "You don't have to."

Santana looked down. "I don't think I'm ready for that yet..."

Rachel nodded. "That's okay."

Santana's face hardened in expression. "But seriously, Rachel. If you tell anyone, I will hunt you down and feed you to an angry pack of wolves. and the only reason I told you and your Jewish ass is because you were the first person in the room. We are not friends." Santana looked down. "And maybe... because I trust you, too."

Rachel smiled. "I swear, I will not tell a soul."

She was used to Santana's common insults and violent death threats, and learned to not take them personally anymore. Rachel realized this was the most common way of how Santana showed affection or emotion towards people. She just had a lot of different emotions she needed to get out, and no matter if the emotion was jealousy, or kindness, or love, they were almost always automatically converted into anger as they left her mouth. Sometimes, this anger would come out in a completely different language. It was rare to see her say what exactly was on her mind.

"Come on, Santana, we're so late to Glee club. I hope Mr. Schue doesn't mind."


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, this chapter was soooo fun to write and I really hope you enjoy it because I do! Sorry it took a little while to update! School... :(**

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**Santana's POV**

_3 days later_

As the rain still continued to pour, Santana shoved the heavy and dreadful textbooks she wouldn't be needing (which was all of them) into her locker. Her sweater was cute, warm, and perfect for the weather. They had gotten a break from the rain on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but today it had started up again. The mini-calendar in her locker that she used for countdowns until important dates read that the day was December 8th, which meant winter break and Christmas were nearing quickly. She smiled.

Zoe, who was two lockers down, shut her locker, looked at Santana, and sighed. "I'm so happy it's Thursday. If it was Monday, I think I would be crying right now," she said, laughing. "And, only one more class until the end of the day!"

Santana smiled wider and looked over at her incredible friend. Her chocolate eyes locked with hers. "You're always optimistic, aren't you?" she said, walking a couple steps closer towards her.

Zoe brushed a small piece of dark blue hair out of her face and behind her ear. A bow matching the color of her hair was holding it up in a ponytail. "It helps me get through things I really don't wanna do." Joy danced inside of her emerald eyes. Santana thought they looked like fireworks lighting up a green sky. They always had sparks flying around and bursting with energy inside.

But the light in her eyes was soon gone as Santana noticed her eyes breaking contact with her own and focusing on something in the distance. Her smile quickly faded, and she suddenly looked worried.

"Shit," Zoe muttered.

Confused, Santana turned around to see what she was looking at. There was a girl with light brown hair, wearing a floral skirt and a black tank top with a green jacket over it. She was with a small group of other people who were all talking and laughing together. The girl, without warning, walked right up to the two of them, her pack of friends following her. They stopped talking as they did this.

"Well, well," said the girl with a bitchy tone. "If it isn't miss loner with no real friends." She looked up and smirked. "Nice hair," she said sarcastically. "What are you, a blueberry?" The girl's friends snickered behind her. One black haired guy in a WMHS varsity jacket whispered to a blonde girl, still laughing.

Santana frowned. Who are these people and why the hell were they being jerks?

"What do you want, Ariana?" Zoe said, rolling her eyes.

Ariana shrugged. "Oh, you know. Just thought I'd say hi to the biggest betraying bitch on the planet."

Santana scoffed and put one hand out in front of her. "Hold up," she began. She turned slightly towards Zoe. _"This_ is Ariana? The girl you told me about who is supposedly your friend?" She looked her up and down. "But Zoe, you told me she was pretty..."

Ariana's jaw dropped. One guy in the back of the small crowd said, "Ohhhh, burn!" Ariana turned and glared at him, then whipped her head back around, looking at Santana.

"Why do you even hang out with her?" Ariana growled at Santana, her amber eyes narrowing. "You could do _so _much better. I mean, you're like one of the most popular girls at this school. You could be friends with anyone you want, and you choose..." her eyes flicked towards Zoe and her voice softened. "..._her?_"

"Is that all you really think or care about?" asked Santana. "Being popular and being a bitch towards everyone? Because it shouldn't be. Zoe is my friend because she is an incredible person and because I want her as my friend, and it doesn't matter to me if she is popular or not." She looked over at Zoe, who still looked offended and hurt from Ariana's previous words, and smiled. "What matters is who the person is on the inside." A couple years ago, she wouldn't be caught dead saying this. But Glee Club had changed her, and in a good way. She was a better person now, even if she still tended to insult others and could be a jerk. She had come a long way. Santana looked back at Ariana. "And that is exactly why I'm not friends with people like _you._ Because your insides are rotten to the core."

Ariana threw back her head and laughed. Her group of friends followed. "Ohmygod, you've become one of them!" she exclaimed. "You've become a total weirdo! You never should have joined that stupid Glee club."

Now, Santana wasn't usually the one to defend something like Glee club. But she loved Glee more than many things and the people in it were like her family, and she wasn't going to let this jerk insult them like that. "Ohh, right, _Glee club_ is the stupid club, definitely not any clubs _you_ join. Let me guess. Celibacy club? And you've had sex _how_ many times now?" Santana laughed. "Don't worry, I'll give you a minute to count."

Ariana looked incredibly angry now. Three guys in her friend group were cracking up. The girls remained silent and emotionless, afraid to do anything. Santana looked over and soaked in the sight of Zoe laughing, too. This always made Santana smile.

Ariana walked up to Santana, her face only inches away from Santana's. "Why are you doing this? Why are you insulting me and defending this friendless loser?"

Santana chuckled with evil undertones. "Because you need to learn to not be such a bitch, and you need to lay off. She isn't friendless- she has me, and I'm 40x better of a friend then you'll ever be to anyone." Santana felt her eyes light up. "And Zoe is the most incredible person I've ever met, and doesn't need people like you. People who _think_ they're better than the person they're bullying, when in reality Zoe is like... like a beautiful, polished gem and _you_ are a piece of worthless trash that creepy homeless man around the corner uses to sleep on."

"Santana, you don't have to-" Zoe began, but was cut off almost immediately by Ariana.

"You know what?" said Ariana. "I'm not the bitch here. You are. And if I didn't know any better..." Ariana began snickering. "I'd say you are, like, in _love _with Zoe, or maybe obsessed with her or something, because I see no other reason why you would defend her like this."

A guy in the back spoke up. "Or describe her as a beautiful polished gem!" Giggles and chuckles erupted from the group, and one auburn-haired girl muttered, "Lesbian!" They began to laugh harder.

Santana could feel her heart almost bursting out of her chest and her stomach twisting in knots. "Where the hell did you get the idea that she's in love with me from? That's completely ridiculous!" said Zoe, walking a few steps towards Ariana.

Ariana noticed how much this statement had obviously bothered Santana and smirked. "Because I bet it's 100% true," she said. She leaned in towards Zoe. "Better watch out the next time you hug her," she joked, looking right at Santana. "She might take it the wrong way and try to kiss you..."

Santana felt herself completely lose it. She was panicking on the inside. But, she knew that every emotion that came out of her almost always came out as anger, and her panic was building up even more. She tried to contain it, but it wasn't working. Finally, she couldn't hold it in any longer, and she felt her anger rush out of her as she slapped Ariana straight on the cheek with the hardest slap she had ever performed in her entire life.

The smacking sound was so loud that after she had slapped her, the entire hallway was completely quiet. Almost everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their heads towards the sound. Some were too afraid to look.

Ariana was holding her cheek, her face and half of her body turned to the left and her light brown hair tousled in front of her face. She was slightly crouched and her mouth was wide open. Zoe, who had mixed feelings about what had just happened, had her hand over her mouth.

Just then, a teacher with short blonde hair bustled over. "You two!"' she exclaimed. "Principal Figgins office! Now!"

Ariana turned and began to protest, her hand still on her cherry-colored cheek. A small tear rushed down her cheek from the stinging. "But she was the one who slapped me!"

The teacher scowled. "I don't care who slapped who!" she yelled. "You and miss Lopez are going to Figgins office right this minute!"

"Class starts in three minutes," Santana stated. "We'll miss class!"

The teacher glared intently at the two girls and gestured for them to follow her to Figgins office. Ariana gave Santana the most intense glare she had ever seen, and began to follow the teacher. As Santana began to follow, she looked at Zoe, hoping she wasn't mad . Her hands were still over her mouth, but as her large green eyes flicked towards her friends she took them off. She saw Zoe's eyes softened with love for her friend as she mouth the words, 'Thank you.'

That was all Santana needed to let her know that Zoe wasn't mad at her for slapping Ariana. But, after all, why would Zoe be mad? Santana had stood up to her, and it wasn't like she didn't deserve that slap. She smiled at her, still trying to take in everything that had been happening, and continued towards Principal Figgins office.


	9. Chapter 9

**Mild violence warning in this chapter. I don't want to give anything away, but if you want to know why I am giving this warning because if violence bothers you, I put the reason at the end of this chapter.**

**Also, I absolutely cannot wait for Demi! I watched the episode last night, and wasn't super impressed, but next week looks great!The Beatles album came out the 23rd and Here comes the sun has Demi and Naya singing together and it's incredible! You have to buy it now! I can't wait to see them together :)**

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Principal Figgins sighed, sitting down slowly in his office chair. He looked at Ariana, obviously not recognizing her, then turned his head towards Santana and closed his brown eyes. "Miss Santana Lopez," he began in his foreign accent. "This is not acceptable. You have been in this office too many times for slapping or violently abusing someone, Finn Hudson being one of your victims! You need to take control of your anger."

"For the last time, Figgins, it wasn't me!" exclaimed Santana. "Do I really have to explain again? It was my _angry alter ego Snix!__" _She emphasized the last four words, being incredibly articulate. "Besides, Finn told you himself that it was a stage slap," she added. She knew this was a lie, but Finn had been nice enough to make it up and get her out of that situation. She had a feeling that Ariana was not going to do the same.

"Please, Miss Lopez, save it!" yelled the Principal angrily. "This is no time for jokes or your ridiculous 'Snix' excuse!"

"If I may, Mr. Principal," began Ariana sweetly, her left cheek still glowing red. "But I am completely innocent in this situation. I was merely trying to to talk to her and our friend Zoe about how our friendship was not working out, and I wanted to fix it, and she slapped me!"

Santana rolled her eyes. _Such a little freaking liar, _she thought. _I didn't even know who she was until today, and Zoe and her aren't even friends anymore.__  
_

"Oh please," said Santana. "Figgins, this girl was bullying _my_ friend Zoe, who is no longer hers, and I stood up for Zoe. Then, she called me a _lesbian_ from out of nowhere and that's why I did it."_  
_

Figgins raised an eyebrow and moved his eyes onto Ariana. "Miss Monterey, is this true?"

Ariana scoffed. "Of course not! She's stretching the truth! I simply told Santana that although I like how passionate she is about her friends, who are mostly girls, I think it was going a little overboard," she lied.

Santana stood up. "That's a lie! Her and her little group of skanks and man whores were all laughing with her at me and she told my best friend to be cautious around me because I'm a lesbian, which is all a lie she pulled from thin air!" Santana knew that the being in love with Zoe part wasn't a lie, but that would be too complicated and way too risky to say. Besides, she wasn't even sure if she was a lesbian. Maybe bisexual? She didn't know. But one thing that was clear to her was her feelings for Zoe. She knew those were real. They had to be. But she was too afraid to admit it.

Figgins was very angry now. "Miss Santana Lopez, sit down right now and do not use such foul language! I could suspend you for all of this!"

Santana death glared Ariana and sat down, crossing her arms and looking to her right, away from Ariana and her Principal. She couldn't believe any of this was happening. She shouldn't be the one getting punished. And what if Zoe thought Ariana's somehow accurate statement about her being in love with Zoe was true? Their friendship would be ruined. She'd be so freaked out, and Santana would hate herself forever. She couldn't even think about what she would do if Zoe began avoiding her.

She was _never_ going to let that happen.

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**Zoe's POV**

Zoe's green converse sneakers squeaked down the hallway as she made her way towards the exit. Her head hung down as she thought about what had happened today. She desperately wanted to talk to Santana and thank her (for real, not mouthing it to her) for standing up to her like that. Santna was the most incredible friend she had ever had. And she had to admit, watching Santana slap the hell out of Ariana, her new arch nemesis, was one of the most amazing things she had ever seen. Ariana deserved it.

But, the one thing that was bothering her was the comment she made about Santana being in love with her. It was so random and out of nowhere that it made Zoe feel uneasy, and she wasn't sure why because even if it _was_ true of course she wouldn't mind. But this uneasy sensation continued to tug at her stomach and her heart. And the strangest thing that this sensation almost felt... good.

Just as she was about to walk out the door, she heard a voice calling her name.

"Zoe! Hey!"

She turned around and her stomach dropped, completely forgetting the unpleasant... but, also pleasant... sensation. It was Cooper. He was running up to her, a small smile on his face. He stopped in front of her, wearing baggy jeans, bright red converse and a blue v-neck with a band name she didn't recognize.

"Look," he started, his smile vanishing as he shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down. "I know it's kind of awkward between us. But I realize what I did was... Idiotic. Like, beyond that. And I promise I won't do it again. So, can we just be friends?"

Zoe laughed, tingles shooting up and down her spine and in her stomach. "Yeah, of course," she replied.

He smiled, looking her in the eye. "Perfect." No matter how hard he tried, Zoe could tell that he couldn't resist from keeping that flirty sparkle in his eyes. And she was okay with that. In fact, she really liked it when he looked at her that way...

As they exited the school, Zoe sighed. "I've had the craziest day," she muttered.

Cooper looked over at her. "Tell me about it."

She gave him a surprised look. Usually, guys weren't into long, drama-filled stories. "Are you sure? Because for it to make sense I'm going to have to start from the beginning."

He shrugged and smiled, looking at her. "I don't mind."

Zoe returned the smile and began from the day she met Santana. Cooper knew exactly who she was when she said her name. Obviously, he knew everyone in Glee club. He was the band.

"Santana has a ridiculous voice," he said. "It's literally mind-blowing."

Zoe giggled and looked down. "I know. I love it. She's incredible." A bubbly feeling was rising from her stomach.

She continued her story. She told him everything as they made their way towards Zoe's house- she even told him about when she had found her crying outside the auditorium after Cooper had kissed her.

He looked confused. "She was that upset about it?" An eyebrow was raised above the other. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought girls got excited when something like that happens to their friends..."

"No, your right," she said. "It was really strange. I could understand her being a little concerned, but she was crying so hard... I think maybe something else was going on that was upsetting her that I don't know about." She wished she knew what this was.

As she finished her story, Zoe couldn't help but notice how incredible of a listener Cooper was. He payed attention to every little detail, followed the whole story all the way through, and even dropped his jaw and gasped a little when she told him about the slap.

"I heard commotion in the hall, but I was in a different part just near that hallway. I had no idea," he commented.

Zoe nodded. "After she was sent to Figgins office, I went to Spanish class, and that was the last time I saw her..."

Just as she was about to say something, she realized that they had arrived at her house. She stopped, pointing to the building.

"Well, this is my stop," she said.

Cooper looked the small house up and down. "I like it," he said. "It's cute."

Zoe laughed. "Sometimes too cute. I wish it was a little bigger... But, my dad and I are the only people living here, so it's okay."

Just as they said goodbye and he began to walk away, something inside of her was telling her to stop him. She felt the word begging to come out of her mouth, and finally she couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Wait!"

He turned around. "Hm?"

"Do you..." she hesitated. "Do you wanna come inside?"

He smiled, showing his glowing, white teeth. "Of course I would."

She smiled back and led him to the front door. Using the key in her backpack, she inserted it into the key hole and turned it. She pushed the door in and walked inside, Cooper following her. He spun around, taking in the place. "Nice," he said.

"Pff. Yeah right," she said. "You don't have to lie."

She walked over to the couch in front of the TV. Cooper walked over sat down next to her. Zoe noticed how close he was sitting next to her, and remembered how Santana had done the same. Was that a coincidence? Maybe it was the way the couch was made... The tingling, bubbly sensation returned in her stomach. He was so close to her...

He looked at her and sighed. "Okay, let's get this over with. You have a boyfriend, don't you?"

Zoe's eyes widened. There were a few moments of silence before Zoe burst into laughter. "Wh-what?" she said between giggles. "No, of course not."

He looked confused. "Then why didn't you like it when I kissed you?"

It was Zoe's turn to sigh. "I told you. It was going way too quickly. I didn't really know you."

Cooper nodded his head. "Of course. Yeah. It's just... you're way too cute to be single. There's _gotta_ be some guy in your life."_  
_

Zoe felt her cheeks warm up. "Nope," she said softly, smiling. "There's no one."

Cooper nodded, looking at the blank TV, obviously trying to restrain himself from kissing her again. But this time, Zoe felt something back, and it was getting stronger. The bubbly feeling was boiling now, and she was ready for him to kiss her.

"And," she began, scooting even closer to him, quickly adjusting the blue bow in her hair. "That means that it wouldn't be a crime if you kissed me..."

Cooper looked at her, his eyes emoting strong feelings of attraction. He was being cautious and not trying anything, but Zoe wanted him to. When she realized that he was too good to his word earlier about staying friends, she realized she would need to be the one to make the move, letting Cooper know it was okay to break his promise. She leaned in slowly and kissed him.

She felt the feeling of firecrackers going off inside of her. He put his hands around her waist and she wrapped hers around his neck, softly holding his head and feeling his soft, dark hair. She never wanted to let go. It was all so incredible. She felt Cooper smile while she kissed him, and she smiled too.

Yet something wasn't right, and she didn't know why.

Just as she was about to delve deeper into why this was, the door swung open. Zoe pulled away immediately and her whole body turned cold as ice. Her heart practically stopped and she could feel her insides flip.

It was her father.

"WHAT IN HELL?!" He screeched. Cooper cowered, startled from his booming words. Zoe stood up.

"Dad!" she exclaim. "Please don't freak out. Please. It isn't his fault."

He growled and stumbled over to them, still incredibly drunk from the day. Cooper was still sitting, looking confused and startled. Her dad stood over him and pointed a finger at him, completely silent for a few moments.

"Get out," he said, barely audible, in a low, grumbled murmur.

Cooper stood quickly. "I am very sorry, sir," he said quietly, then looked at Zoe with a worried glance. He passed them and made his way toward the door. They both heard the door shut, and she immediately began to speak.

"Dad, he's a really great guy, I promise! Please don't be mad at him!"

"Oh, I'm not mad at him," he yelled. "I'm mad at you! You _know_ the rule, and you betrayed me! He is a perfectly nice and innocent young man, and if you leave him he will be sad for the rest of his life! Girls like you _ruin_ guys like him!"

Zoe felt a tear rush down her cheek. "Dad... you aren't talking about Cooper anymore, are you?" she said slowly.

"What? What are you talking about?!"

Zoe sighed. "Your talking about you and Mom..."

And with that, he screamed, "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" and slapped her on the cheek so hard she fell to the ground, her leg slamming into a sharp corner of the table nearby. She cried out and felt warm, sticky blood begin to rush out of her leg. As she tried to get up, her father picked her up by her t-shirt with his muscled arms and threw her onto the couch. He leaned over her, his face incredibly close to hers.

"D-Dad, please calm down," she stuttered softly. "I-I'm s-so sorry... I m-miss her too..."

But this only made her angrier. He punched her in the stomach with great force. The impact caused the air from her lungs to explode out of her mouth. His wedding ring on his hand caused the injury to become more serious, and she could feel the bruise forming already.

But he wasn't done. He punched her in the same spot again, the pain becoming much worse, and Zoe knew that with a bruise like this she wouldn't be able to move very well.

She felt hot tears spilling out of her eyes. "Dad..." she managed to say. "Pl.. Please... Stop..."

He grabbed her arm, digging his fingernails into her skin, causing it to bleed slightly, and pulled her in closer.

"Don't. _Ever._ Bring. A boy. Here. Again." he said softly, but with so much power and anger that Zoe could feel it radiating from his words. "Do you hear me? _Ever._"

She nodded. "Please let go, Dad, my arm is bleeding and it really hurts..."

He scoffed. "You're weak," he said, and threw her back on the couch. Just as Zoe felt relief wash over her, he said something.

"That's why you need to learn to be tougher."

And with that, he punched her once again in the same spot, a tear rushing down his own cheek, and simply walked towards his room and shut the door.

For a while, Zoe just lay on the couch, feeling the immense pain in her stomach increase. Compared to this pain she could barely feel her bleeding leg and arm. Although it hurt her stomach to even lift her head, she tried to see how bad her injuries were. Her leg was bleeding everywhere. It was a cut at lease 5 inches long, and it looked pretty deep. Zoe felt faint; she could hardly look at it. She felt around her ribs to make sure there were no broken bones, and to her relief they were all still in tact. Her arm wasn't too bad at all, just a few shallow cuts.

Zoe felt more tears rush down her cheeks. She couldn't even believe what had just happened. Her father had never abused her, except for that one time when he slapped her many, many years ago. He must have been incredibly intoxicated. Zoe felt herself cry harder.

An idea suddenly popped in her head. She needed help. She couldn't sit on this couch for much longer. Who knows how bad her injuries could get? She looked over at the table, the one that had cut her leg, and spotted her phone lying on top. She smiled. She reached over, her arm just barely long enough, grabbed it, turned it on and unlocked it. She went to her contacts and scrolled through, stopping on the one she was looking for.

_Contact: Santana_

_What would I do without her?_ Zoe thought. She clicked on the number, put the phone to her ear, listened to the numbers dial and hoped to God that she would pick up.

* * *

**For the people looking down here to see the reason for my violence warning, in this chapter, Zoe is abused by her father. Its nothing horrible I promise. Abuse is a very sad, horrible issue that I think is wrong, but I felt the need to address this issue, obviously along with issues that have to do with sexuality and struggling with liking someone you can't have, in this fanfic.**


	10. Chapter 10

**I have a feeling you are all going to enjoy this chapter quite a bit if your into the Santana/Zoe relationship... and the next one a lot too ;)**

* * *

**Santana's POV**

Santana sighed, watching the rain pour outside from her bedroom window. The rain had been on and off all day, and it had taken a break around the end of the school day. She noticed how cold it was starting to get outside, and realized the rain would very soon be turning into snow. It was coming incredibly late this year.

She groaned when she had thought of the events that had taken up her day. She had to sit in Figgins office forever, and after that it was clean-up crew for the next few weeks for the both of them. But it was all worth it. She would do anything to help Zoe. She just wanted to protect her.

Suddenly, her phone began to vibrate loudly on her nightstand. She sat up in her bed, reached over and looked to see who was calling. Her stomach dropped.

_Call from: Zoe_

What if she was calling about how Ariana had accused her of being in love with her? What if she was mad? She almost pressed the big, red 'Ignore' button, but she resisted. Zoe was a sweet girl. She probably was calling her for other reasons. She clicked answer and put the phone to her ear.

"Hey," she said. She couldn't help but smile just thinking about her friend on the other line. She laid herself on her stomach, trying to get more comfortable.

"Santana?" said Zoe. "Oh thank God..."

Santana let out a breath of relief. She obviously wasn't mad.

But something else was wrong, and she could tell by the way Zoe had said the words. She sounded... distressed.

Just as Santana was about to say something, Zoe cut her off unintentionally. "I really need to thank you. I really appreciate it. You are... so incredible for doing what you did today, but you really didn't have to go as far as you did. I don't want you getting in too much trouble for me." Her voice sounded soft and weak, like she was trying to keep it down, or something was subduing her voice.

Santana laughed. "Of course. I would do anything for you," she said, lowering her gaze. Realizing how that could sound a little weird, she coughed and added, "But, uh, I mostly did it because that girl was a _bitch. _And I mean, like, a big one. I thought I was bad..."

She heard Zoe scoff. "You're not like her. You actually have a heart and a sense of compassion..."

Santana smiled and felt her heart rate speed up. "Well, your welcome. And don't worry, I'm not in that big of trouble. I have to stay after school and clean up stuff for a week or two. Principal Figgins is a weakling when it comes to punishments... "

Zoe laughed. But Santana's smile vanished when she heard Zoe's laugh cut off as she muttered a small but audible "Ow."

She was frowning now. "Are you okay?" she asked. "It kind of sounds like you're in pain or something..."

Zoe sighed. "Well... this is kinda the reason I called you. After school today, I came here to my house with Cooper."

Startled, Santana threw back her head slightly. "Wait. That guy in the band who _kissed_ you? You're friends now?"

"Please don't be mad," she said. "He's really sweet, Santana, and I really like him..."

A horrible feeling washed over her. The one person she cared about more than anything in this world was falling for someone else... she felt like she had the strength to rip a phone book in half.

"So he was at my house, and I, um, sort of kissed him..."

Santana closed her eyes. It took everything inside of her not to scream and throw her phone across the room. But she kept her cool. If she was a friend who _didn't_ have feelings for her, she would be happy for her. And that is exactly what she wanted to portray herself as.

"Really?" she said, trying to keep an even, level voice. "Well, if he is a nice guy, and you both like each other, then I guess that's fine..."

She could tell that Zoe was happy that she said that. "Yeah, and everything was going great, until..."

A confused look crossed Santana's face. "Until what?"

"Well, um... my dad walked in. And he was more drunk than I've ever seen him, Santana..." she began.

Remembering Zoe's story, her eyes widened. "Ohmygod," she said. "Was he mad?"

"Well... yes. He kicked Cooper out, and..." There was a pause. Santana felt like it was unnaturally long. She waited in anticipation for Zoe to continue.

She heard something over the phone that made her own heart break in two. It was the sound of Zoe crying. And Santana could tell that whatever she was going to say next was serious.

"Santana, do you remember how I told you that my dad had never abused me before, except only once when he slapped me?"

Santana felt her stomach flip. She did not like where this was going at all. "Y-yes..." she stuttered.

"That was true up until this moment." She began to cry harder.

Santana threw her hand over her mouth. "Zoe, I am so sorry... Are you okay?!"

"No!" she exclaimed. "Santana, I'm in so much pain... I need help..."

"He hurt you that badly?" she responded. She could feel her heart being shattered and ground up into dust. She could barely listen to this.

"San?" She asked. Santana couldn't help but smile at the nickname she had just given her. No one had ever called her that before.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"A-Are you free tonight? Because I need to come over... I have no one else to turn to..." she stuttered in between sniffles.

"Of course," she replied. "But are you sure you don't want me to come over there? If you're in pain it could be hard coming over here... and this rain is getting worse."

"No. I need to come over to your house. My dad will get super pissed if you come here. I'm going to have to sneak out."

Santana felt excitement rush through her body. "Yeah, okay," she said. "My parents are out for tonight, tomorrow and the weekend, so if you want we can just ditch school tomorrow, and stay here together..." The thought of this caused a warm, tingly sensation to race up and down her body. "And you can stay for as long as you like."

"I like that idea," she said. "A lot. See you soon."

"Okay."

Just as she was about to hang up, she heard Zoe say, "Wait."

Santana put the phone back to her ear. "Hm?"

"You... you are the most incredible person I have ever known. Ever."

And with that, Zoe hung up before Santana could respond.

Pure bliss coursed through her veins. Those words were all she needed to feel incredible. She put her phone down, a smile crossing her face.

* * *

Around 7:30 pm, Santana heard soft knock at her door. She flew down the stairs, energy sparking inside of her. She was dressed in a black tank top with "I 'heart' NY" on it in white and red, and her shorts were pink with black polka-dots and yellow daisies. She felt the need to look good. Taking a deep breath, she placed her hand on the cool, brass door handle and turned the knob, the door swinging towards her.

Santana gasped, her eyes widening.

Standing in front of her was Zoe. But it wasn't anything she had ever expected. She was completely soaked from the rain, her blue hair sticking to her face and her clothing almost hanging off of her. Santana felt a tear rush down her cheek as she noticed the huge gash in her leg. Zoe looked up at her with huge, helpless green eyes.

"H-Hey," she stuttered.

Santana immediately rushed to her side, holding her up just before she collapsed into her arms. She could feel her cold body shivering against her own and she gently picked the girl up before she could protest and brought her inside. Santana couldn't even believe this was happening.

She quickly shut the door with her back and rushed over to the couch, gently setting her down on the couch.

"Zoe, this is horrible! You didn't tell me that your dad hurt you _this_ bad! I would have come over and helped you sooner if I'd known... I'm so sorry..."

"Trust me, Santana. This isn't your fault. Thank you," she murmured.

Santana sat there, kneeling over her for a few moments, and looked at her, a worried look plastered to her face. She began to stroke her wet, blue hair. She pushed it out of her face, feeling her soft, cold cheeks under her warm hand. She couldn't help but break into a small smile.

"I'll go get some towels and something dry for you to wear." She paused, looking her straight in her green eyes. "I owe you one. You took care of me when I came to you, and now its my turn to help you."

Zoe smiled. "After what you did for me today, you never have to owe me."

Santana felt her stomach twinge with a warm, pleasant feeling that spread throughout her body. She got up and rushed upstairs, fetching clothes and towels. As she came back down and helped Zoe up, leading her to the bathroom, she handed them to her.

"Are... you sure you don't need any help with changing or anything? You look really hurt," she said, awkwardly looking to the side.

Zoe laughed. "I'll be okay."

Santana waited outside the bathroom. When the door opened, she helped her limp over back to the couch. Santana fetched a pillow for her to lie on, covering it with a towel so her damp hair wouldn't get it wet. Then, after fetching cloth, rags, hydrogen peroxide and pain killers she found in her mom's medicine cabinet, she sat down on the edge of the couch, a rag ready in her hand.

"Okay. I'm going to have to clean you gash. This is going to hurt a little bit, okay?"

She nodded. "I trust you."

Santana poured the hydrogen peroxide on her cut, careful not to get it all over her couch. The solution created a thick, white foam, and she felt Zoe wince. "Ow," she muttered. She wiped the excess blood off of her leg.

Zoe eyed her suspiciously, wincing from pain every few moments. "Since when did you become so good with treating wounds?"

Santana shrugged, still looking down at her leg. "I was the school nurse for a few days. After I dressed up as a school nurse and purposely gave Finn mono, I actually tried helping out around there a few days after, which isn't like me at all, so I have no idea why I did it. But, I learned a lot... you'd be surprised how many accidents happen at our weird school."

Zoe couldn't help herself from letting a small giggle escape. "You _purposely _gave Finn Hudson mono?!"

Santana sighed, smiling and remembering when she thought she had been romantically attracted to him. Those were the days. She had no idea what a real crush felt like back then... "It's... a long story. Finn and I have a lot of history."

Zoe was laughing harder now. Santana looked up, laughing a little, too. "What?" she asked.

Zoe simply smiled, her emerald eyes filled with happiness, despite all of the things that had been happening to her. "You're funny," she answered. She looked down, still smiling "You make me so happy, Santana. And you help me forget everything bad happening." She looked into her coffee brown eyes. "You always make me laugh, even through your insults, which are mean, but incredibly amusing at the same time..."

Santana, still smiling herself, looked down and went back to helping her cut, butterflies fluttering around in her stomach.

Suddenly, she noticed something. A bit of Zoe's skin was showing where the bottom of her t-shirt and the top of her shorts met, and it was oddly discolored. Frowning, she pointed towards the discoloration.

"What's that on your stomach?" she asked, suddenly curious.

Zoe's smile faded. "N-Nothing," she stuttered, quickly pulling down the shirt over it. As she did this, her hand moved along the discolored skin, and Santana noticed that her entire body flinched violently.

"Ah!" yelped Zoe. Her whole face scrunched together.

"What the hell!?" exclaimed Santana. "Zoe, move your hand. This obviously isn't nothing."

"I really don't want you to worry about it, San. You've done plenty of nice things for me."

Santana glared at her. "Move your hand," she said in a stubborn tone.

Reluctantly, Zoe moved it. Santana pulled up her shirt just a few inches and her jaw dropped. There was a gigantic bruise covering at least a third of her stomach.

"Zoe!" Santana exclaimed. "This is really bad! I can help."

"Please, I'm okay," said Zoe.

Santana threw her a look. "No, you're not. You need help with this bruise, sweetie. It's serious."

She stood up, moving to her kitchen, and poured her a glass of water. When Santana wasn't looking, Zoe helped herself sit up, continuing to wince. Santana filled a plastic bag with ice and walked over with the glass in her other hand. She sat down next to Zoe, put the glass on the table, opened the orange bottle of pills, and shook one into her hand. She placed the pill and the glass of water in her hands.

"That will make it feel way better," she said.

Zoe eyed the capsule suspiciously. "...Santana, where did you get this?"

She shrugged. "My mom's cabinet. Don't worry, I read the label, it doesn't have any bad side effects, except if you count a little bit of drowsiness bad."

She still looked unsure. "I dunno, San... she won't get mad, right?"

Santana laughed. She pushed back a piece of her blue hair. "Don't you trust me? I said don't worry about it. I've taken it before. Nothing will happen except your pain will go away." Santana wished she had a pill to make the pain in her heart go away. She liked her so much, it was nearly crushing her...

Zoe nodded and took the pill, gulping down the water. "Thanks," she said sweetly. "I don't know what I'd do without you..." She smiled, biting the corner of her lip and looking diagonally towards the ground.

Santana could barely take it anymore. She wanted her _so badly._ It was driving her crazy. She scanned her with her dark, coffee eyes, not even knowing what to do about it anymore.

"Uhm, I know this sounds weird," she started, "but I need to put this medicine on your stomach, and to do that, I need you to take off your shirt."

"Santana, please, you've done enough for me. I'm okay!" she said, slowly turning her injured body towards her.

Santana sighed. "No, your not okay. That bruise is... _huge, _to say the least. I'm not an expert on bruises but if you don't let me help you, it could continue to be extremely painful, or get worse..."

It was Zoe's turn to sigh. "You're right," she murmured. "I am hurt pretty bad." She looked at Santana. "I just don't want to take up your time or anything."

Santana burst into laughter. "It's not like I have anything better to do," she said. "You're too polite."

Zoe smiled. She grabbed the bottom of her shirt, lifted her arms and peeled it off of her body in one fluid motion. Her bruise was bigger and worse than she even thought; it started just below her bra and covered at least a third of the left side of her stomach, going down all the way near her lower abdomen.

For a moment, Santana was speechless. The fact that the bruise looked so bad _and _that she wasn't even wearing a shirt caused her to run out of words. She scooted closer, carefully opening the top of the ointment bottle and squirting it into her hand.

"Do you mind?" she asked. Zoe looked at her in the eye, shaking her head. Her eyes lever left Santana as Santana looked down and put her hand on her stomach. Zoe winced several times, letting out painful moans. Santana felt her soft skin under her fingertips, and her tight, muscled stomach, even though badly discolored, still drove Santana crazy. She wasn't sure how much more of this she could take before she'd lean in and kiss her.

After she had finished, she handed Zoe the bag of ice. "You... can put your shirt on again," she said. Santana hadn't even noticed how close their faces were. She could close the distance between their lips so easily... But she knew her boundaries. She had probably already crossed them by asking her to strip down to her bra and let her rub medicine on her bare stomach. _What the hell was I thinking?_

Zoe nodded, grabbing her shirt and proceeding to put it back on. Santana moved away slightly, giving her space. As she grabbed the bag of ice, Santana noticed Zoe's eyelids beginning to get heavier. It was only about 8 pm, but she could tell Zoe had had an incredibly eventful, treacherous day.

"I'll go get you blankets," she said. "You look really tired."

Before Zoe could protest, she yawned, her mouth widening as far as it could. "Yeah," she giggled. "I guess you're right."

As Santana fetched the blankets and walked back over to the couch, Santana noticed Zoe appeared to be already asleep. She was laying down, eyes closed, the ice on her stomach. Santana knelt beside her head, looking at her blue-haired friend. She was like a tiny, injured angel. She put the blankets over her, making sure they were comfortably placed, and moved the ice bag. After a few moments of taking in the sight of her yet again, she ever so slightly leaned over her, stroking her blue hair out of the way, and lightly placed her lips on her forehead, keeping them there for a few breathtaking moments. When her lips broke contact, she stood up and raced towards the stairs, gracefully gliding up them.

**Zoe**

The moment she was gone, Zoe opened her eyes. She hadn't been asleep at all. She had felt everything. Maybe Ariana's out-of-the-blue statement wasn't so out there at all. Why hadn't Santana told her she felt this way towards her? Zoe doubted that that kiss on her forehead had been purely out of friendship. Zoe had felt heavy pain and emotion coming through Santana's lips. And although Zoe didn't expect to feel anything except pity for her friend when this happened (because Zoe was positive she was straight), she felt a tingling, warm feeling coming alive in her stomach. She realized she had been feeling the same thing when Santana had been rubbing that medicine on her bruise, and even though she had identified herself as straight for quite some time, suddenly Zoe wasn't so positive anymore.

All she knew was that something about that kiss on her forehead felt... right.


	11. Chapter 11

**I think many of you will like this chapter a lot ;)**

* * *

**Zoe's POV**

_I should say something._

_No! She might freak out. I don't just want to blurt out and ask her if she likes me. _

_But poor thing is probably suffering from this..._

As Zoe debated complicated matters in her head, she watched as Santana stood in the kitchen, struggling to order their dinner from Breadsticks, a popular restaurant in Lima, over the phone.

"What do you mean, you don't deliver?" she yelled into the phone. She sighed as the person on the other line talked."I can't come and pick up an order. That's like, an hour walk, and I can't drive because my parents are out of town and took it with them." She seemed to get angrier as she listened to the phone. "Yeah, I'm sorry, too. Because you guys are _not _getting any of my money today. Get a delivery system! I want my god damn breadsticks!" She pressed the hang up button angrily and growled. She looked at the clock, which read 5:30 pm. The night before, after Santana had kissed her on the forehead, she lay on the couch, wide awake, thinking about everything that had happened for a long time. It wasn't until 1:30 am when she went to sleep, and she had woken up the next morning at 12:45 pm. She was exhausted. Her and Santana basically watched TV, and laid on the couch together and talked. With her injuries and the nonstop rain there wasn't many other things they could do, and almost the entire time, Zoe couldn't stop thinking about Santana's kiss. Not just because she knew now that Santana was into her, but because she felt something when she had kissed her. A spark had gone off inside of her and ignited this strange feeling, and the more time she spent with Santana, the more this emotion grew inside of her. The feeling was incredible, but also terrifying.

Santana sighed. "Well, there goes our dinner plan," she mumbled.

Zoe shrugged. "Why don't we just order pizza instead?"

Santana nodded in agreement, dialing a number she had obviously memorized. She put it to her ear.

"Jose?" she said. "Yeah, it's Santana. Bring the usual." As she listened to this so-called Jose, she rolled her eyes. "You know my adress, idiot. And bring it quickly. I have a starving, injured girl with me." She listened to Jose speak, and her face suddenly filled with annoyance. She began to yell into the phone angrily with quickly-spoken Spanish. Zoe's eyes widened- she didn't even know Santana could do that. And although Zoe had been learning Spanish since she was little and was getting pretty good at it, she didn't understand much of what Santana was saying because of her rapid way of speaking. After a minute or two of this, she said goodbye and hung up.

"Uhm, everything okay?" Zoe said softly, hoping not to make her any more angry than she already was.

Santana smiled. "I'm fine. He's bringing the pizza in about an hour. It takes a while to make."

Zoe was about to question what had just happened, but she decided not to. She sighed and shifted her aching body uncomfortably.

Suddenly, Santana's phone rang. She looked down and sighed. "It's Rachel," moaned Santana. "I should take this. Sorry."

"It's fine," Zoe replied. She didn't mind at all.

Santana smiled, a flash of a mysterious emotion hiding behind the rich, dark color of her brown eyes. She grabbed her phone and walked down the hallway and into another room.

**Santana's POV**

Mentally preparing herself, Santana pressed the green Answer button and put the phone to her ear, not even getting enough time to say hello first.

"Where were you and Zoe at school today?" Rachel yelled. "Did you ditch again?! Don't be a bad influence on her!"

"Calm down, Dwarf, we had to skip," muttered Santana coolly.

"What do you mean?" questioned Rachel.

Santana wondered if she should tell the complete truth about how her father had hurt her. She decided she better not; it could be to personal to share. "Zoe fell down stairs and she scraped her foot and bruised her stomach really bad. She's not letting me call the doctor because she swears she doesn't need one, so I insisted on taking care of her," she explained.

"Ohmygod, is she okay?!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Yeah, she's fine. Don't worry about it."

"Well then, I forgive you for missing glee. We had a really good class today, though. I wish you hadn't of missed it. Mercedes sang a great song."

"Mmm," Santana muttered halfheartedly in response. Rachel continued to blabber, but Santana began to lose focus and space out.

After Rachel was finally done with filling her in about every detail she missed in glee club, there was a small pause on the line, and Santana knew what Rachel was about to talk about.

"Hey, um, I wanted to talk to you about... what you told me a few days ago," said Rachel. The tone of her voice had changed; it was softer, more gentle.

Santana sighed and looked down. "Do we have to?"

"Of course we do!" Rachel said. "We can't just _not _talk about it."

_Yeah we can, _thought Santana. But she decided not to say it. "Okay, fine," she said. "What do you want to know?"

"Why did you tell me?" she asked. "Why not Brittany or something?"

Santana chuckled. "'Cause Brittany would probably tell everyone," Santana said. "I love her to death, but she's not exactly trustworthy when it comes to secrets. That Fondue for Two show she does reveals just about everything about everyone at our school. I can't risk that."

"Is... Brittany the girl you like?"

Santana's eyes widened. "What? No! No, not Brittany."

"_Please_ tell me who it is!" pleaded Rachel. "I'm dying over here! Is it that Cheerio with the wavy red hair? She's pretty. Rebecca, or something?"

Santana vaguely knew who that was. "No! I've never even talked to her."

Rache began to rapidly list people. "Is it Sugar? Tina? Is it Quinn? It's Quinn, isn't it?"

Santana shook her head, slightly annoyed, yet somehow amused. Through small giggles, she said, "No, no, no, it's not any of those people."

Rachel paused. "...is it me?"

"Not in a million years, hobbit," she joked.

"Tell me! Please?"

Santana was silent. She contemplated if she had enough courage to tell her. "Is it someone on the Cheerios?" asked Rachel.

"No," she said. "She's not a cheerleader. She hates cheerleading."

"Is she in Glee?"

Santana froze. If she answered yes, this was narrowing it down to a hell of a lot of people. She opened her mouth, then shut it again, not sure what to say.

"Ohmygod," she heard Rachel say over the phone. "It's Zoe, isn't it?"

Santana's stomached dropped. "Um... maybe?"

Rachel squealed. "That is so cute, Santana!"

"It's not _cute!_ It's torturous! She's straight."

"How do you know that?"

"She kissed some guy in the band."

"So? That doesn't mean she's straight. She could like girls, also."

Santana scoffed. "I doubt it."

"Don't give up, Santana!" she exclaimed. "She's at your house right now. Make a move! See what happens."

"But I don't want to ruin our friendship," Santana moaned. "If I can't have her as my girlfriend, I at least need her as a friend." She sighed. "Rachel, I... I don't know what I'd do if she ever stopped being my friend. I don't know what I would do without her. I like her _so much."_

"Wow," said Rachel. "Really? I never thought I would be saying this, but that's so sweet, Santana. Look, just make a really small move, something subtle, and if she seems to try to block you out, then stop. Who knows- she could be into it! Santana, she could be into _you!" _

A faint sound came from Rachel's line. "Listen, I gotta go. My dads just got home from seeing some movie. I'll see you on Monday, 'kay?"

"Yeah, alright," she said. "And, uh... Thanks, Rachel." She never thought in a million years she'd ever be caught dead being friends with Rachel. But now that she was 17 years old, 18 in a few months, she felt much more mature and accepting than her 15-year-old sophomore self, when she started glee. She was such a jerk back then. Santana wondered how she could ever live with herself 3 years ago. Glee was her family, and nothing was going to change that.

"No problem," replied Rachel in a bouncy tone. "Bye!"

Hanging up the phone, Santana took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. She tried to calm her nerves by shaking her hands, but she accidentally slammed it into her window.

"Ow," she muttered, looking at the window.

Her eyes widened.

She watched as several snowflakes began to fall in front of her window. She hadn't even noticed that it had started snowing. A giant smile spread across her face as she watched the snow lightly coat the outside world, turning it into a white, winter wonderland.

She raced out of her room and over to the couch, where Zoe was trying to re-position herself.

"Hey Santana, what did Rachel-"

"Nevermind that," said Santana with rushed words. She grabbed Zoe's hand, careful to help her up off the couch. Zoe winced in pain many times.

"Where are you taking me?" asked Zoe through strained grunts of pain. Santana wrapped her arms around her shoulders and waist, helping her limp in the direction of the front door. Santana let go for a split second to open the door, and she felt the cool, crisp air rush through her clothes. As they walked out from the awning, Zoe gasped.

"Snow!" she exclaimed. She giggled in happiness, looking up in the sky. "Finally! After all that rain..." She attempted to let go of Santana and walk on her own, but after she took one step, she began to fall. Santana quickly caught her before she fell to the ground. Santana looked up and realized she had fallen right into her arms, and their faces were practically inches away. Santana was stunned for a second before she felt herself blush and look down.

"Sorry," Zoe said softly, still looking at Santana. "I-I guess I can't stand on my own yet."

Santana tried to keep looking down, but she couldn't keep herself from looking at her again. She couldn't keep her eyes off of her. After a few heartbeats of silence, Santana cleared her throat. "Uh, here. Let's sit down on my steps." She helped her walk down the few steps and sit down. Zoe looked up at the sky and smiled. Snow was already sprinkled on her hair, the bright white flakes standing out on the dark blue. Her emerald eyes reflected the cloudy, dim light.

"It's beautiful," she murmured.

Santana continued to look right at her. "Yeah," Santana agreed, smiling a little.

Santana thought about what Rachel said. Right at that moment would be a perfect time to try something. But what? Her heart was racing. She wasn't sure what to do.

So she kissed her on the cheek.

Her icy cheeks felt smooth under her lips, and she felt a short rush of electricity surge through her. She imagined what it would be like actually kissing her, if just kissing her on the cheek felt this good.

After Santana pulled back, she was afraid of what was going to happen next. Zoe turned to her, light reflecting so many emotions in her giant eyes. There was a small silence before Zoe said something that Santana never expected to say.

"Why didn't you kiss me on the lips?"

Stunned, Santana opened her mouth. "W-what?" she stuttered.

Zoe shrugged. "Well, it's obvious you like me a lot. You've kissed me twice in the past 24 hours. So why haven't you kissed me?"

Santana didn't even know what to say, or even think. Her mind was reeling. "I... Um..."

Zoe giggled. "Were you afraid?" Zoe paused for an answer, which she didn't get. "Santana, it's okay that you have feelings for me. You could have just told me. I don't mind."

Santana felt tears rush down her cheeks, which were so cold they felt like melting icicles dripping down her face. She didn't even know why she was crying- she assumed she just felt relieved.

"Yeah, I-I guess I was af-fraid," she stammered. "That you would think I'm creepy, or something."

Zoe frowned and wiped a cold tear from Santana's cheek. Her fingers felt soft on her face. "Why would I ever think that?"

Santana looked down. "Because some of the people at are school can be such jerks. They can be so unaccepting. I was afraid if I told you, you would either stop being friends with me, or tell everyone, which would cause everyone at school to look at me _so _differently and make them feel like they have the right to be awful to me..."

Zoe scoffed. "They're all jerks. Forget about them."

Santana closed her eyes. "I can't. I care to much about what other people think."

"Don't," replied Zoe. "Appearance and social status isn't everything. If you care about them too much, it can make you sick. Being who you are is what's important. You should trust me, and same with the people in Glee. We all accept you for who you are."

Santana looked at Zoe. "You... are literally incredible."

Zoe looked away, a worried look in her eyes. Santana sighed. "I won't kiss you again, though. I'm sorry. I'll just get over my feelings, because obviously you don't feel the same way, and-"

"Santana, stop," Zoe said. She said it in a harsh tone, a way Santana had never heard her use before.

"...What?" asked Santana. Her insides began churning. She felt the snow begin to come down harder, and even though she could feel herself getting colder, she didn't acknowledge it.

"You're... you're making me really confused," she said, scrunching her face together.

Santana raised an eyebrow. "I don't get what you're talking about. Did I give you too many of those pain killers today or something?"

Zoe looked straight at her in the eyes. Santana tried to read her emotions, but so many of them were flying through her eyes at once. Santana couldn't help but push back a small strand of blue hair that was in her face. After she had done this, she watched as Zoe raised her hand to Santana's cheek and rubbed her thumb across her jawline slowly. Santana closed her eyes, taking in the feeling of this soft, passionate gesture. She let herself lean into her hand. She opened her eyes, and Zoe's eyes seemed to be much more calm, with a look of pure serenity filling her warm eyes.

Quicker than Santana could process what was going on, Zoe leaned in, closed her eyes, and pressed her lips against Santana's.

* * *

**The next chapter will continue directly where this left off, like a part 2. Hope you enjoyed! Finally, they have kissed! :D**


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